Set Adrift
by Interspark
Summary: While putting off the end of his tenth life, the Doctor finds himself in a bind he can't escape alone, and with the resources at his disposal, there's only one team of Gems he can call for help. (Sequel to It's Over Isn't It?)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, this is the sequel requested for my recent story, 'It's Over Isn't It?' It's also in the same canon as my Lapis/Peridot fusion story, because I want to keep that option open. You don't have to read those ones first, but I think they're fun stories (although I'm biased, obviously). Anyway, last time we saw the Doctor, he was was in his 9th regeneration, and was leaving Beach City to fight the Nestene Consciousness in London. Since then, he's gone on all of his cannonical adventures up to The Waters of Mars, and is now killing time (no pun intended) until going back to the Ood Sphere to meet Ood Sigma. Since then, just a few weeks have passed for Steven and co. and they're just before the events of Room for Ruby. Anyway, enjoy!**

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 _Pierre and Percy looked lovingly into each other's eyes._

 _"I don't care about Color War!" Percy insisted, tears welling in his eyes. "I care about you!"_

 _"What about Paulette?" Pierre concernedly replied._

 _"Oh, you didn't hear? She got eaten by a bear."_

Peridot frowned and stared down at her tablet, holding her chin and drumming her fingers.

"Too sudden." She decided. "I'll have to write an opening paragraph, detailing Paulette's horrific and unavoidable death."

Peridot had recently made the reluctant conclusion that the directors of Camp Pining Hearts were never going to acknowledge the travesty that was Percy and Paulette's relationship in the show, and had felt the insuppressible urge to put the "correct" outcome of the show into words. According to Steven, this was called "fanfiction".

Peridot sat on a raised level of the barn as she typed, swinging her legs beneath her, as she did. Next to her, the TV was playing a muted episode of Season 3, for inspiration. It was the episode in which Percy and Pierre snuck out of their cabins past curfew to go fishing at the lake together. It should have marked the begging of their romantic and practical partnership, but only served to enforce their platonic friendship...

As Peridot typed, occasionally stopping to scowl or roll her eyes at moments of the show, Lapis lay in her hammock, across the barn from her, snoring loudly. Peridot looked up and smiled slightly. There was something so adorable about the fact that Lapis liked to sleep so often. It was the only time she didn't have any urge, no matter how slight, to put on a cool act, such as when she smiled slyly at Peridot's jokes which, by Peridot's reasoning, she should laugh hysterically at.

After another hour of careful typing and reviewing, Peridot had switched tabs to her Twitter account. She had noted, as the page loaded, that it was abnormally slow. She had built her router herself and it operated on its own network. She opened a handful of other pages on her bookmark bar, each one opening slightly slower than the last. She prodded the tablet angrily, muttering complaints under her breath.

"What's wrong?"

Peridot jumped slightly, and looked up to see Lapis stretching, on her hammock.

"There's something wrong with our internet..." Peridot informed her.

Lapis looked out of the barn's open door, to see Peridot's router, comprised of a lawnmower with radar dishes attached to it, buzzing back and forth happily.

"I thought you said you had it perfect?" She said. Peridot had complained feverishly while setting up the barn's wi-fi, and the last thing Lapis wanted was another tantrum from the smaller Gem.

"It is..." Peridot insisted. "It must be external interference. Probably a solar flare or something. Anyway, my... 'fan-fiction' is coming along splendidly! Do you want to read it?"

"Is this about Percy and Pierre again?" Lapis asked, with a smirk.

"THEY'RE..." Peridot began, before quickly catching herself. She had explained her position on the subject in great detail to Lapis on several occasions, and got the impression she was beginning to tire her with it. "Yes..." She calmly replied.

Lapis laughed gently, at Peridot's contained outburst. "Yeah okay. Can you read it to me? I'm gonna try that 'painting' thing Steven showed us."

Lapis climbed the ladder up to Peridot, with a colour pallet, some paintbrushes and tubes of paint, cradled in her free arm. She had also donned a black beret, which Steven had insisted was important. She stood at an easel in the upper corner of the barn, while Peridot read.

As time wore on, Peridot read her story, and Lapis painted an abstract blend of colours which, when asked by Peridot, she said represented her relationship with the planet Earth.

"So wait." She interrupted Peridot's story. "Is Maisy in this story?" Maisy was one of Lapis' favourite characters.

"No... what does she have to do with this?"

"Well she's the best pairing with Paulette, so wouldn't she be upset that..."

Lapis was presumably about to refer to Paulette's death at the beginning of the story, but Peridot never found out, as she was interrupted by a chiming sound, slightly similar to the one the warp pads made, and was followed by the clattering sound of Lapis' art supplies falling to the floor.

Peridot shot around, to see her companion gone. "Lapis...?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ooph... what... argh?" The Doctor splayed out on a cold, metal floor. He cringed at the muscle tension and headache he had been stricken with. "Rough teleport..." He realised.

He mentally backtracked. He had been in Empire City, winning the final round of a nation-wide chess tournament, despite not having played in any of the earlier matches ("Thank you, psychic paper"), when he had felt the floor and the room sucked away from him as he was plucked from the surface of the planet by a crude teleport beam.

The Doctor looked up. He was in a dingy room, like a changing room at a gym, complete with showers and lockers, but also several large, empty cells, lining a wall. It was dimly lit and very grimy. The Doctor would have been surprised if it had ever been cleaned, since its construction.

Sharing the room with him, were around a dozen people of all different species. Based on their respective planets of origin, the Doctor could tell that they hadn't been brought together by any spectacular technology. There wasn't anyone there from further than twelve solar systems away. Besides that, the one thing they all had in common, was that they were all of species which were inherently talented fighters, possessing exceptional strength, speed or skill. The Doctor sighed, as he climbed to his feet. He had a feeling he knew where he was.

An almost humanoid android skittered over to the Doctor, on three nimble legs. It visibly scanned a beam of red light up and down his body. The Doctor's vitals were displayed on a monitor in the robot's chest.

"New combatant. State your name." It demanded in a deep, robotic monotone.

The Doctor brushed down his coat. "Doctor. Nice to meet you."

"Error. Binary heartbeat detected. Human classification denied. State your species."

The Doctor considered his response. By the looks of the technology around him, he doubted anyone on this ship knew what a Time Lord was, or what kind of potential one possessed, but nevertheless, he decided to play it safe, at least until he got his bearings.

"Oh no, I'm a human." The Doctor said. He pointed back and forth between his hearts. "Two hearts, it's a... it's a rare condition."

"Confirmed." The robot announced. With that, it left him to see to the room's other occupants.

Left to himself, the Doctor patted down his pockets. Sonic screwdriver, psychic paper, TARDIS key, along with various other brick-a-brac. The arrangement the Doctor found himself in was unfortunately quite common in space-faring civilisations. Fly around the galaxy, picking people up from all the planets they visited, and making them fight to the death. Only usually, they took their victims' clothes and possessions, and fitted them with some means of control, like a shock collar. Presumably, they didn't think a human was worth the trouble. Sure enough, all of the other, rather more threatening occupants of the room were dressed only in minimalistic trousers and had metallic collars with beeping, red lights on them.

The Doctor must have been mistaken for an above-average human, due to his inherent energy output, and selected to partake in a one-sided fight, for the crowd's amusement.

Sitting on a bench, near the Doctor, was a large creature with lumpy, grey skin, almost like they had been made by a child, out of modelling clay. They had a long mouth, which stretched between their shoulders, and a single, unblinking eye, sitting in the small protrusion that was the creature's head, above their shock collar.

"Morning." The Doctor greeted them, cheerfully. "Nice day for a tussle, isn't it? Mind you, I much prefer badminton."

The eye squinted slightly, and looked down. "Not looking to make friends with someone who'll be dead in five minutes." Although his appearance wasn't comparable to either human gender, the creature's voice was unmistakably masculine. His tone wasn't callous or cruel, if anything, he sounded sad.

"What makes you say that?" The Doctor confidently enquired, putting his hands in his trouser pockets. "I mean, not the looking for friends part, that's your business. I mean the other thing."

"They pick up guys like you every few planets. Little smart guys, who'll stay alive for a bit but... I'm sorry... They're gonna make you fight a monster..."

"Nahhh don't worry about me. Wouldn't be the first time!" The Doctor reassured them. "What's your name, by the way?"

The creature hesitated, before making the sort of sound a child might make, when expressing a reluctance to swallow a mouthful of broccoli. It was a few moments before the Doctor realised he had been answering his question.

"Right then... Blaaarg?" The Doctor tried. The creature didn't correct him. "Tell me- how did you wind up here?"

"Same as you, I'm guessing. One minute I'm having dinner with my mate and hatchlings, the next..." He trailed off. The Doctor wasn't overly familiar with Blaaarg's species, so didn't know how they expressed great sadness, but he guessed that was what was causing his iris to expand.

The Doctor put a reassuring hand on the creature's shoulder. "I promise you Blaaarg, I'm gonna put a stop to this and get you home."

The android who had greeted the Doctor skittered over.

"You have been selected. Make your way to the arena." It informed him.

On cue, a door behind the android opened up, and the boisterous cheering of hundreds of people flooded into the room. So far as the Doctor could tell, it was the only door in the room, otherwise he might have considered making a break for it and shutting down the operation from behind the scenes, but this way was better. As long as he was the one fighting, he could ensure no one else died.

The Doctor stepped through the door, to find himself in a small, fenced off area, adjacent to a large, round colosseum. Next to him, were various weapons, ranging from swords, to non-lethal laser pistols. These fights were intended to drag out. Sitting all around the battlefield, were people of all species, sitting on stone seats, cheering hysterically. Above the opposite side of the arena, was a small, box-like observation room. High above them, was a dense, glass ceiling, offering a dramatic view of the Earth.

Also visible in the skylight, were at least four more ships, much larger than the one the Doctor was on. The fleet was host to an entire civilisation, which travelled from system to system, expanding the empire of their home planet beyond the stars. It was likely that the ship The Doctor was on, was solely used for colosseum battles.

"AND NOW... WE HAVE A CONTENDER FROM THE PLANET BELOW!" A voice boomed across the stadium. The Doctor could make out a person in the observation room, talking into a microphone. "CITIZENS OF ARK FLEET DELTA! GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO... THE DOCTOR!"

The Doctor scowled. Having gained the lay of the land, he had begun working on a plan. It seemed the only way into the spectator's areas of the ship, was through a door on the side of the colosseum, but it looked for too advanced for the Sonic Screwdriver, and was almost certainly guarded. He could try deactivating the shock collars. That would certainly be manageable, but he would have to do them one at a time, unless he had access to the master control, which would almost definitely be in the control room with the announcer...

"AND HIS OPPONENT, FRESH FROM THE HIVE WORLD OF TROVINAXIA! THE SCARAB!"

The Doctor was quickly distracted from his planning. The door to the fighter's area opposite the arena opened, and an enormous insect was ushered out, by two more tripod androids.

Trovinaxian Beetles lived in hives which spanned the entire surface of their home planet. They were the size of jeeps, with six muscular legs and three serrated horns. They were herbivores, but lashed out angrily when threatened. The curious thing about them, was that their consciousness was projected from a vast, brain-like cluster, buried beneath their hives, not entirely unlike the Ood's third brain, except when a Trovinaxian Beetle was killed, it would immediately be reborn on its home planet. With the Doctor's psychic abilities, he wouldn't even have to harm the creature, but for the plan he was working on to succeed, he would have to make it look good.

As the gates keeping him and the frantic insect apart opened, the Doctor picked up a simple, metallic sword. The crowd roared in approval as the two combatants met in the middle of the ring and a sword and horn met with a vicious clang.

The Doctor felt a swell of sympathy for the creature. It had been dragged from its home and forced to fight time after time for reasons it couldn't fathom. Even though he knew the creature would be fine once he saved it, the Doctor felt a pang of guilt each time he struck his sword against one of its horns.

The beetle scurried left and right, thrusting at the Doctor, desperate to keep its perceived attacker away. Ultimately, it lunged at the Doctor with such force, that the effort of blocking sent the Doctor flying off his feet and onto the dusty arena ground. The crowd shrieked hysterically, as the Doctor attempted to force the creature's snapping jaws away, by pushing against its central horn with his sword.

With his free hand, the Doctor placed a single finger on the beetle's forehead, and closed his eyes. He mentally backtracked along the beetle's psychic connection to its hive. He could see the cluster controlling it, in his mind's eye. He could also see the gestation pods, full of mindless larvae, waiting to succeed lost beetles like this one. With all the effort of a human disconnecting their phone's Wi-Fi, the Doctor severed the link to the beetle.

The beetle slowly ceased its attack. Once it was motionless, the Doctor heaved it onto its back and stood up, brushing down his coat. Over the course of just a few seconds, the beetle's body disintegrated into shimmering, golden dust. The crowd's cheering had given away to stunned silence. Even the announcer simply stared from his control room, open mouthed. Before long, the crowd exploded into cheers and applause once more, clearly approving of the surprising outcome of the match.

Before the announcer could declare a winner and reveal the participants of the next round, the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the loudspeakers surrounding the arena, and activated it. A deafening screech rattled every eardrum in the audience, and the cheering immediately dissipated. The Doctor seized the silence, while it lasted.

"I thought this was a fight!" He shouted, turning slowly, to face the crowd in its entirety. "And here I am, fighting little bugs? Where are the real fighters!?" He paused for dramatic effect. "I invoke the right of Ragg-kia... two on two."

A collection of gasps and excited murmuring made its way around the colosseum. The right of Ragg-kia allowed any captive fighter who had won a single match, to immediately fight the strongest, most veteran fighter or fighters present. Additionally, he was allowed to invite another fighter to battle at his side, and the Doctor knew exactly who.

"WELL WELL WELL!" The announcer's voice boomed over the speakers. "LOOKS LIKE OUR MEAGER FIGHTERS AREN'T ENOUGH FOR THE ALMIGHTY DOCTOR!" Several members of the audience booed the Doctor's arrogance. "LET'S SEE HOW HE FARES AGAINT... THE AGOREEN BROTHERS!"

The door the Trovinaxian Beetle had come in through opened once more, and two more fighters entered the arena. If the Agoreens were, in fact, brothers, the Doctor suspected at least one of them had been adopted, since one was a Raxacoricofallapatorian, and the other a Judoon. Unlike the Slitheen, the Raxacoricofallapatorian was a pale yellow, and unlike the Judoon which served the Shadow Proclimation, the one staring down the Doctor was wearing an assortment of animal furs and skins, the mark of a Judoon warrior.

Behind the Doctor, the door to the waiting area opened, and the fighters who had shared the room with him were ushered out into the fenced off area, by the android. The Doctor spotted Blaarg. He wore a nervous frown, probably worried that the Doctor was planning to choose him to fight at his side. The Doctor shot him a reassuring smile, trying to communicate that that wasn't the case.

In fact, the Doctor wasn't planning to choose any fighter on the ship to fight at his side. He had figured out, before his first fight began, that he would be able to gain rudimentary control of the ship's teleport beam, by targeting the control panel in the observation room, with the sonic screwdriver.

He wouldn't be able to send anyone off the ship, nor select anyone from the planet below with any kind of precision. In fact, he could only have it select a person at random, of an approximate species, meaning the person he chose would have to be both an ally of the Doctor, and the only one of their kind in the teleport's radius. Luckily, the Doctor knew just the person, or rather, people.

In his past life, the Doctor had encountered the Crystal Gems, the band of rebels who protected the Earth from their Homeworld, and had established a bond with them which was rare, for the Doctor's hit-and-run lifestyle. He was sure they would be more than happy to assist him in ensuring the people of the Earth stayed safe from extra-terrestrial kidnappers.

"DOCTOR!" The announcer boomed. "SELECT YOUR PARTNER!"

The Doctor pretended to consider the fighters behind him for a moments, before spinning around, with a grin on his face and sonic screwdriver in hand. "I choose the Crystal Gems!"

Hoping for Garnet, the Doctor activated the sonic screwdriver, and, with a pulse of blue light, a slender, blue gem in a light sundress appeared before him.

"… she got mauled by a bear?" The Gem concluded the sentence she had apparently been in the middle of.

The Gem (a Lapis Lazuli, the Doctor realised) looked around, stunned. She saw the Doctor, who was staring back at her with similar shock, as though she had burst into his bedroom unannounced.

"Who the hell are you!?" They both demanded in unison.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys and gals! Sorry for the wait, I've been off work, and I mostly just write on my lunch break, without my homely distractions, but I'll be uploading more often now. Hope you enjoy and review and etc etc!**

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A Lapis Lazuli!? The Doctor had no idea why such a gem would be on earth, in the 21st century. Although, in hindsight, the Doctor vaguely remembered Steven mentioning he was friends with one. His shock didn't last long. Some improvisation would be required, but so long as the Lapis co-operated, his plan to escape remained unchanged.

In the observation room, the Doctor could just about make out the announcer, frantically disengaging the teleport system. He wouldn't get the chance to try again.

"WELL... LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A SURPRISE CONTENDER, FOLKS!" The announcer was clearly made nervous, by his lapse in control, but was trying valiantly to roll with it. "LET'S SEE HOW THE DOCTOR'S CHOICE FARES HIM, AS HE FIGHTS FOR HIS LIFE!"

Lapis was appropriately stunned and disorientated. "Wha... what is this? Who are you? Where am I!?"

The Doctor rubbed the back of his head and cringed apologetically. "Yeah... look, I'm really sorry about all this. I was trying to reach out to the Crystal Gems..."

Lapis' eyes widened hopefully, at the prospect that the Doctor might be an ally. "I'm... kind of a Crystal Gem?" She offered, nervously.

"Oh, you know Steven?" The Doctor asked.

Given their situation, it was a wonder that the Doctor and Lapis' conversation had lasted as long as it did, before it was aggressively interrupted.

"Look out!" The Doctor shouted.

He and Lapis shot backwards and the Judoon Agoreen charged between them, swinging a long quarterstaff with a blade at each end. While the Doctor and Lapis eyed him, cautiously, the other Agoreen prowled around the outside of the arena, on all fours.

"Lapis, behind you!" The Doctor warned.

After turning around just in time, Lapis dived acrobatically out of the way, as the Raxacoricofallapatorian pounced at her, claws first. The Doctor reconvened with Lapis on the opposite side of the arena from their opponents.

"How are we gonna beat these guys? We don't have any weapons!" Lapis pointed out. The Doctor had abandoned his sword after fighting the beetle.

"You're a Gem! What's your Gem weapon?" The Doctor asked.

"Water control..." Lapis moodily replied, waving her arms around to indicate the utter lack of water in the arena.

"Right!" The Doctor slapped his forehead irritably. "Hang on..." He began patting down the pockets of his coat.

The Agoreens attacked again, and this time, only Lapis was paying enough attention to evade in time. With his hands still in his pockets, the Judoon grabbed the front of the Doctor's coat with his free hand and lifted him off the ground. The Raxacoricofallapatorian crept towards him on two feet, baring his long claws, inching them towards the Doctor's throat.

"What a tough guy!" The Doctor's attacker gasped, sarcastically, his voice grating and rattling almost electronically, as his species' did. "Do you know, Hyro? I feared any second he might raise his voice at us!"

Without taking his eyes of the Raxacoricofallapatorian's claws, the Doctor pulled from his pocket a small glass sphere and threw it to Lapis. "Break it!" He instructed, urgently.

Lapis caught the thing and looked at it. It was a snow globe, a tiny one with a little cottage in it. From the motion of being thrown and caught, white confetti and glitter were raining down on the model structure.

"What am I supposed to do, wash their faces!?" Lapis demanded. It wasn't as though the Doctor could have a massive container of water on him, but it still seemed like he was asking a lot of her.

"Break it!" The Doctor shouted, again, eyeing the claws which were inches from his throat. "Now please!"

Lapis rolled her eyes, if the strange man was about to die, he could do so in the knowledge that Lapis had been right. She lifted the snow globe and smashed it on the floor. The effect was instantaneous. A volume of water equal to the surroundings of a real cottage flooded from the small knick knack in Lapis' hands. She pointed the plastic base back and forth as the water flooded out, knocking the Agoreen brothers off their feet, and sending them sprawling into the opposite wall of the arena. The crowd roared with excitement. They had no idea what was going on, but clearly loved every second of it.

Unfortunately, the water had swept the Doctor in the same direction as his adversaries. The shock had freed him from the rhino-like alien's grip, but, with muscle mass on his side, the Judoon was able to fight the flow of water and wrap an arm around the Doctor's torso, before he was able to escape.

As the water began to calm down, it coated the arena floor, a couple of feet deep. The Judoon stood upright, lifting the Doctor off his feet. The Raxacoricofallapatorian did the same.

"Kill this one." The Judoon grunted. "Then we focus on the witch."

His brother didn't seem inclined to argue. He reared his claws back, preparing to thrust at the Doctor, but never got the chance to follow through. A slender fist of water, on a disproportionately long arm rocketed from the pool at their feet, connecting squarely with the Raxacoricofallapatorian's face and sending him flying backwards.

The Judoon relaxed his grip in surprise, and the Doctor took full advantage. He fiercely kicked the Judoon in the knee, causing him to grunt and double over slightly, just enough to allow the Doctor's foot to touch the floor. Arching his back and heaving forwards, the Doctor threw his gargantuan opponent over his shoulder and into the water with his brother.

"What the heck is this thing?" Lapis demanded, as the Doctor waded over to her.

The Doctor took the base of the snow globe from her, with half of the glass still encasing the small cottage. "What? You never seen a snow globe before?" He teased, throwing and catching it with one hand, before returning It to his pocket.

"But it's... it's..." She stammered in disbelief.

"Bigger on the inside?" The Doctor finished, failing to suppress a cheery grin.

Spatial compression technology had been available to Gemkind since long before Lapis was made, but she had never seen it in a device so small, not even on her last visit to Homeworld, before being dragged back by Peridot. She quickly got over her surprise.

"So what's the plan here?" Lapis reminded the Doctor, who was still looking smug about his snow globe. "I mean, do we have to drown these guys or what?"

Although Lapis hadn't stammered or broken eye contact, the Doctor was uncertain is the blue Gem was serious or not.

"No... no don't do that..." The Doctor requested, seriously. "Just keep them off me while I cut the power to the security systems. If we can get into the control room up there, we can take control of this operation and get everyone out of here."

The Agoreens climbed to their feet and began to wade in the duo's direction. True to the Doctor's instruction, Lapis immediately conjured an enormous pair of hands from the water, each one grasping an Agoreen, and pinning their arms to their sides. The Doctor made his way over to a wall, next to the fenced off area their opponents had come from, and removed a large, metal panel, with a buzz of the sonic screwdriver, revealing a small control panel behind it.

The crowd began to boo their disapproval, as Lapis and the Agoreens stood motionlessly, and the Doctor began to hotwire the machinery.

"WELL THIS ISN'T SPORTING AT ALL!" The announcer declared. "WHAT DO YOU SAY WE EVEN THE ODDS, FOLKS?"

The Doctor didn't like the sound of that. He hastened his work, trying to create a feedback loop which would knock out power to the control room, but he was already too late. An electric current surged through the floor of the arena, and was conducted by the water. The Doctor and Lapis cried out in pain, and the hands Lapis had conjured dissolved lifelessly into the pool. The Agoreens hunched over slightly and winced, the Judoon balancing himself by placing his fist on the floor, but neither made a sound. Before the current faded, drains opened in the outside of the arena, and the glitter-filled water was swiftly drained away, with Lapis too preoccupied to command it otherwise.

The Doctor had fallen to his hands and knees. He picked his sonic screwdriver up off the ground, and attempted to use it to disable the apparatus that had just stunned them, but the device neither illuminated, nor made a sound. Removing a small panel on the side of the device, the Doctor confirmed his fear. The circuitry had been fried. The sonic screwdriver was useless. He looked at the panel, hoping he could override the control room manually, but the console had been deactivated. His hearts pounded anxiously and his mind raced, searching for a new option, besides winning the fight and killing the Agoreen brothers.

Lapis backed over to the Doctor cautiously, as the Agoreens advanced. She summoned the remaining water on the arena floor to her arms, forming a pair of gauntlets, similar to Garnet's.

"What do we do now?" She asked, desperately.

"Well, I.. erm... we could..." The Doctor stammered, as he raced through possible scenarios, all of which ended with their certain or eventual death. As little as he liked to admit it, normally in the Doctor's adventures, this would be where some miraculous deux ex machina occurred.

The Judoon lowered his head, and lifted his quarterstaff, as though preparing to charge, when he was distracted by the announcer.

For the first time, the man in the control room wasn't shouting dramatically or co-ordinating the fights. "What the..." Came a hesitant voice over the speakers. Every eye in the arena made its way to the announcer, and then followed his gaze upwards, to the vast window in the arena's ceiling.

Stunned silence fell once more, and this time, it was Lapis who broke it. "Ha ha! Yes!" She cheered in relief.

Hovering over the arena ship, peering down at the fighters, was the Roaming Eye. Immediately after Lapis had vanished, Peridot had frantically loaded all of her censor equipment into a backpack, activated the Roaming Eye, and flown the small ship to Steven's house. She had deduced that the disturbance which was affecting the barn's wi-fi had been from some orbital craft which had abducted her barn mate.

Peridot had stormed into the house, just catching Pearl, Connie and Steven, before they warped to the Sky Arena for training, and reported what had happened. Along with Amethyst and Garnet, the Crystal Gems had taken to orbit in search of their lost friend. Beyond the atmosphere, the team were startled to find the vast fleet of alien ships, and between Peridot's equipment, and Garnet's future vision, they quickly found the correct one.

"There she is, there's Lapis!" Peridot frantically exclaimed, practically climbing on Pearl, who was sitting at the pilot's seat.

"Peridot, calm down!" Pearl scolded. "We don't know what kind of craft this is or what technology we're dealing with! We need to..."

"She's in danger!" Peridot screamed. "It's an arena! Can't you see those beefy aliens down there! We have to save her!"

Peridot lunged for the controls, attempting to wrestle them from Pearl's grip, causing the Roaming Eye to drift left and right, much to the arena-goers' confusion.

"G... Garnet, a little help please?" Pearl requested.

Garnet compliantly lifted Peridot by her waist and pulled her away from Pearl. "Peridot. We're going to handle this!" She said, authoritively.

"I'M COMING LAPIS!" Peridot cried.

With a thrust of Peridot's hand, the controls shot forwards, in disregard of Pearl's wishes. With a collective cry of shock from its occupants, the Roaming Eye burst through the ship's skylight (which was mercifully replaced with an energy field, moments later) and slammed into the center of the arena, between Lapis and the Doctor, and the Agoreens.

The ship's door opened and Connie immediately leapt out to the arena floor, rolling acrobatically, and ending in an action stance, sword in hand. "Lapis, we're here to save you!" She announced.

She was quickly followed by Steven and Garnet, and then the remaining Gems. "Lapis, Peridot, get to the ship!" Garnet ordered. "We'll cover your escape!"

Noticing the Agoreens, Pearl and Amethyst quickly summoned their weapons, and each engaged one in battle, before they could attack the Doctor and Lapis once more.

"Steven! Garnet!" The Doctor beamed excitedly.

"Uhhh, hi?" Steven replied, confusedly. "Have we met?"

"Doctor." Garnet returned the greeting, curtly, with a nod of her head.

"That's the... you're the Doctor!?" Steven asked, in disbelief.

"You recognise me?" The Doctor asked Garnet, sounding somewhat flattered.

Garnet adjusted her visor. "You're invisible to future vision." She reminded him. "Plus, you pretty much look exactly the same..."

Steven looked to Garnet awkwardly, hesitant to express the extent to which he disagreed.

Meanwhile, the arena's announcer was watching the scene in dismay, grasping handfuls of his hair, anxiously. This Doctor was supposed to be a feeble little human who put on a show by getting mauled to death by a bug. Now they had no bug, and a small platoon of alien warriors killing his best fighters. He had to put a stop to this. He reached for the dial which controlled the electronic, resistance suppression system and turned it up to maximum, the arena would be purged in moments.

Suddenly, Garnet gasped in alarm. She grabbed the back of Steven and Connie's shirts and hoisted them into the air. Seconds later, electricity began to burst visibly from the floor. The Doctor, the Agoreens and all of the Gems, except Garnet, cried out in pain and fell to the ground, twitching helplessly.

Garnet lifted Steven higher and placed him on top of her hair. "Hold on." She instructed.

The mighty fusion pulled her newly-freed hand backwards, and a single gauntlet materialised on it with a sparkle of light. Thrusting the same arm forwards, the gauntlet rocketed from Garnet's body, and shot at the control room like a missile. The impact caused a violent explosion, sending most of the room flying across the arena, and immediately ending the electrical onslaught. The announcer, wounded and stunned, but still alive, could be seen scurrying out of his hiding place and deeper into the ship.

"Wow, thanks Garnet!" Connie said, as Garnet put her down.

Far from looking proud of her heroism, Garnet frowned worriedly. "Sorry everyone. Didn't have a lot of options..."

Only the Doctor seemed to share Garnet's remorse, but the others soon found out what was wrong.

"ALERT. THIS VESSEL HAS BEEN COMPROMISED." An electronic voice announced, over the loudspeakers. "RECALL PROTOCOL HAS BEEN ENGAGED. HYPERSPACE IN 0.6 CYCLES."

"Uuuh, what does that mean?" Amethyst asked. The Agoreen brothers seemed to have lost interest in the fight, when the announcer had run for his life.

The Doctor scowled. "It means we've got just over thirty seconds to get off this ship before we kiss the earth goodbye!"

The arena's audience had already begun to panic. They rose from their seats and ran to the outside of the ship. Through the remains of the skylight, they could see hundreds of balls of blue light shooting away as they teleported to the other ships in the fleet.

"Well hurry! Everyone on the ship!" Pearl insisted, on the verge of hysteria.

The Crystal Gems and the Doctor quickly complied, but to their dismay, the inside of the Roaming Eye was lifeless. Somewhere between Peridot's crash landing and being electrocuted, the ship had been damaged beyond any functionality. The lights wouldn't even turn on.

"HYPERSPACE IN 0.03 CYCLES" The automated voice from outside updated them.

"Steven! My mom will freak if I leave earth's solar system without her permission!" Connie cried.

"Doctor!" Steven directed the group's attention, desperately. "Is your ship on board!?"

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair and cringed. "I was taken from Empire City! She's still down there!"

"HYPERSPACE IN 5... 4..."

The group all looked back and forth at each other, with no one offering any kind of suggestion.

"3... 2... 1..."


	4. Chapter 4

Much like the library in which the Doctor had been pursued by Vashta Nerada, the Shipyard was so massive and unique, that it needed no further identification (although there were some who called it Shipyard City). It existed towards the outside of a vast society, spanning dozens of solar systems, called the Clem Empire.

The Shipyard became necessary, shortly after the creation of the Ark Fleets. Because the fleets housed entire civilisations, they were too large to land in any established docking station for repairs. Thus, an available planet had to be selected. The shipyard had to be on a temperate planet with a breathable atmosphere, but, for whatever reason, hadn't been made into a colony. The planet selected was perfect. It was able to sustain almost all forms of life, but very little of it was colonised, since almost two thirds of the planet was covered by a rancid swamp.

After the gargantuan frames had been set up, and the repair technology installed, Ark Fleets began to arrive from all over, either for emergency repairs, or routine maintenance, and with the people, came business. The Shipyard slowly expanded across the swamp, as restaurants and entertainment venues were set up, and eventually, permanent housing. Despite the intense humidity, and overbearing aroma, the Shipyard's massive, and constantly changing population, meant a booming economy, which attracted citizens from all over the Clem Empire.

In addition to dozens of actual shipyards, reaching high into the sky, the city also featured towering skyscrapers, housing flats, businesses, hospitals and even universities. At any one time, hundreds of small ships could be seen whizzing back and forth through the air, carrying people to and from, and even across the massive city, which stretched on for miles.

Due to their size, the arrival of Ark Fleet vessels had to be scheduled in advance, so that the skies could be cleared, which is why Recall Protocols were programmed in such a way, that compromised Ark ships would land in the outskirts of the city, in the swamp, where they would immediately deactivate. This was hardly ideal, of course, since it meant forcing a crash landing, and potentially getting a priceless ship permanently stuck or even swallowed in the mire, but because of their top-of-the-line technology, Ark ships were almost never seriously damaged or stolen. In fact, there was no one alive in Shipyard City who had ever even seen a Recall Protocol in action, which was why half of the city ground to a halt, and its citizens stopped and stared as, with a violent explosion of purple light, the clouds parted and a massive, circular ship fell from the sky.

Among the citizens watching the ship descend towards the swamp, was a young lady named Amy Archer. Like many Clems, Amy was very similar to a human in appearance. She had a slender figure, with light brown skin and shaggy, black hair. The biggest clue a human would have, that she was not of their species, would be her intense blue eyes, with flakes of green, and no blurred middle ground whatsoever between the two.

Amy sat in a dingy garage, located at the edge of the city, overlooking the swamp, dressed in the set of overalls and protective gloves that were practical for her chosen profession. She sat on a wooden box, next to a motionless, humanoid android, who was kneeling on the floor. Before the Ark ship had entered the atmosphere, Amy had been making careful adjustments to an open compartment in the side of the android's head, occasionally lowering a clear visor from her hair, which, when she tapped the side of it, irritably, displayed a diagnosis of the android's operating system.

"Wow..." She breathed, quietly, after the initial shock of the ship's arrival faded. "Check it out, Atlas. That ship must have been recalled, for some reason."

The android, Atlas, didn't reply. Their face was comprised of a pair of circular cameras, beneath a curved sheet of dense glass, with a crack in the top corner, but neither camera reacted to Amy, or the scene beyond the swamp. Amy sighed. Atlas hadn't worked properly in some time.

"So the Recall Protocol..." Amy wondered aloud.

She lowered her visor again, with some slight protest and flickering, the visor soon displayed the city's own protocol for recalled ships. The police would soon quarantine the vessel and arrest the occupants, to find out what happened. Then, construction drones would drag it out of the swamp, it would be repaired, and eventually sent back to its fleet.

Amy rolled her tongue around her cheek thoughtfully. "It'll take the police a while to organise a response team for this... and I bet there's some great salvage on that ship..." She mulled it over for a second, and then grinned mischievously.

Amy closed the panel on Atlas' head and climbed to her feet. At the back of the shop, a large hoverbike hung motionlessly in the air. It was very similar to the kind of motorcycle one might find on earth, except featuring flat hover panels in place of wheels. Although it was a few years too late to be cutting edge, it was the only device Amy owned, which worked perfectly.

As she pushed the bike to the front of the shop, she hesitated, and looked at Atlas. It was more than likely she could use the android's help salvaging parts from the ship, but she didn't like what she would have to do to get it.

She sighed again. "Sorry buddy... Activate sentry mode."

Atlas' eyes illuminated, and they immediately shot to their feet. "Sentry mode engaged." They declared.

Amy climbed onto her bike and indicated for Atlas to do the same, with a jerk of her head. "Let's go."

With Atlas on board, Amy maneuveredthe vehicle out of the garage (the doors closing behind her), between the motionless onlookers, and out across the swamp.

-x-x-x-

"Connie? Connie can you hear me?"

"Uuugh..."

Connie slowly came to, to see the human-like man from the ship, kneeling over her, shining a pocket torch in her eyes.

"Why are you shining that light in her eyes?" Steven asked.

"I've no idea..." The Doctor admitted. "Saw them do it on TV once..."

Connie sat upright and nursed a slight headache. "I'm okay... what happened?"

Steven quickly caught her up.

Shortly after exiting hyperspace, power to the ship had cut, and the vessel had free-fallen, until crash-landing on its side, in the swamp. Steven had grabbed Connie's hand but, distracted as he was, he had barely been able to slow her down with his floating powers, before they had collided with the downwards-facing side of the arena. Pearl and Amethyst had quickly formed Opal in mid-air, who caught the Roaming Eye, in two of her arms, before it crushed anyone.

Through the skylight, the ship's occupants could see that the arena vessel had sunk almost half way into the swamp. Mercifully, the murky, green water stopped just short of the hole Peridot had made, with the Roaming Eye, but from the hole, massive fractures now ran all the way to the outside of the enormous, circular window. Several of the gems on the ship (not including Steven's) shone a corresponding colour or light, illuminating the dingy depth, far from the sunshine up above them.

Satisfied that Connie was alright, The Doctor crossed the curved side of the ship, to where the Agoreen brothers were picking themselves off the ground.

"Good fight, lads." He applauded them. "Now how about a truce?"

The Judoon growled angrily and stomped threateningly towards the Doctor. In an instant, Garnet was between the two of them, holding her hand out, warningly.

"Stay calm!" She hissed through clenched teeth. "The ship is in a delicate position... We're directly above a large gas pocket. Too much commotion could cause us to sink and be buried!"

"That fight wasn't fair!" The Judoon growled, swaying left and right to glare at the Doctor, over Garnet's shoulder. "First witchcraft... then all this backup!"

The Judoon, Hyro, his brother had called him, looked up and seemed to notice the towering Opal for the first time. She was standing with the Roaming eye held effortlessly in her two left arms, with her right hands resting on her hip and waist.

The Raxacoricofallapatorian Agoreen rested a clawed hand on his brother's shoulder, reassuringly. "Hyro, she's right. I can feel the swamp shifting beneath us. Besides, the fight is over, look at our collars."

Hyro looked at his brother's collar, it showed no sign of life. Hesitantly at first, he reached for his own and, flinching fearfully, crushed the device under his neck and tore it off. After sighing in relief, he did the same for his brother.

"Thank you..." The Raxacoricofallapatorian said to the Doctor and Garnet, earnestly.

"Any time." The Doctor smiled. "I'm the Doctor by the way, these are the Crystal Gems, and you are?"

"You can call me Foon-Raq. This is my brother Hyro... he's adopted." The Raxacoricofallapatorian confirmed the Doctor's suspicion.

The Doctor was relieved to meet a Raxacoricofallapatorian who was capable of reason. Having only ever met villainous Slitheen and Blathereen, he had to admit he was dangerously close to developing a prejudice.

"Right then." The Doctor suddenly and authoritively declared, making some of his associates jump. "We all need to get off this ship. There are a dozen prisoners in the room below us. You two, anything else on your side?"

Hyro and Foon-Raq shared a look. "We don't think so..." Foon-Raq said, eventually.

"What is it?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"We think... I mean, we were prisoners too, so it's not like they tell us anything... But we think there's another monster up there. Like the Scarab they made you fight." Foon-Raq said.

"Well then let's get the heck out of here!" Peridot exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. "All we have to do is get everyone into the Roaming Eye, and I'll use my awesome metal powers to fly it to freedom!"

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. Regardless of whether or not he chose to believe an Era Two Peridot actually had ferrokinetic abilities, getting everyone in the Roaming Eye was definitely their smartest first move. Garnet and Hyro swiftly but carefully ripped away the bars that were covering the fighters' area, and Foon-Raq descended to the room below to help the prisoners climb upwards to the colosseum.

"You know... I didn't for a moment think you might live up to your promise." Blaaarg said, as the Doctor took his hand, pulling him upwards and to his feet. He audibly wheezed several times, his species' equivalent of laughing gently. "Thank you..."

"No probs. Right everyone!" The Doctor raised his voice, gaining the attention of the small group. "This ship is dangerously close to sinking into the swamp, and also, there's talk of there being a monster on board. So if you'd all like to get in the vessel my lovely friend..." He turned to Opal and frowned. "Actually, what do you two call this one?"

Rather than let the Doctor keep talking for her, Opal addressed the group. "I'm Opal, everyone in." She said, bluntly, setting the Roaming Eye down on the ground.

Before anyone could make a complaint about the Roaming Eye being too small, the prisoners closest to it had already begun to file in, discovering its vast interior. The Doctor stopped Foon-Raq before he boarded.

"What's this about another monster? You mean another beetle?"

"Does it matter!?" Opal asked. "We'll be out of here in a second!"

"One person's monster is someone else's frightened animal." The Doctor said, with an angry edge to his voice. "We don't know it deserves to drown."

"Not a beetle..." Hyro stated. "We could hear it pounding against the walls..."

The Doctor stroked his chin, thoughtfully, that hardly narrowed it down. He turned to Garnet. "Get everyone out of here. I need to find out what it is."

"You'll need help." Garnet said, factually.

The Doctor conceded that she was probably right. "Not from you though. The police will be coming to quarantine the ship. You need to help them get the Roaming Eye out of here." Even though Garnet had never said, the Doctor knew a leader when he saw one.

Garnet also agreed with the Doctor, and they shared in the dilemma for a moment, before a glow of pink light drew their focus. The Doctor turned to the entrance of the Roaming Eye, and was startled to see someone new. The newcomer was tall, with tanned skin, bushy hair and rounded cheeks. Most confusing to the Doctor though, was Steven's (or Rose Quartz's) gem on their navel. A quick headcount determined them to be a fusion of Steven and his human friend, Connie, which didn't change the fact that that was physically impossible.

Stevonnie gave a stern salute to Garnet, with the hand that wasn't holding Rose's sword. "Stevonnie reporting for duty, ma'am!" Their expression was mostly serious, with just a slight smirk at their own formality.

Garnet frowned and sighed worriedly. Before she could reply, Stevonnie continued.

"If the ship is unstable, my floating powers make me the most light-footed if there's trouble!" They reasoned.

Garnet spared a few more seconds for silent consideration. "Be careful." She said. "We'll draw the police away. Come and find us when you get out."

Before Stevonnie could ask how they were to find them, Garnet leaned forwards and planted a kiss on their forehead. Stevonnie leaned backwards, their eyes sparkling in wonder as half of them experienced future vision for the first time.

"Doctor, look after them." Garnet ordered, sternly. She turned to Stevonnie. "Stevonnie, look after him."

"Yes ma'am." They said in unison, the Doctor giving Garnet a casual, one-finger salute.

Garnet entered the Roaming Eye and looked around the doorway to the taller fusion. "Opal, let's go!"

As Opal lifted the vessel, and reached around to manually close the door, Peridot could just be heard saying, "But... my metal powers..." In a defeated whine.

With the pod in her hands, Opal leapt gracefully towards the hole in the skylight, flipping over so her feet went through first, while impressively passing the pod between her hands, to ensure it stayed perfectly upright. As soon as she vanished from sight, the sound of thrusters from small vessels, and commanding voices over loudspeakers could be heard, as the approaching police chased Opal away from the ship.

In the absence of any illuminated gems, the Doctor once again activated his pocket torch, and turned to face Stevonnie.

"Right then. Allons-y!"

* * *

 **"Now wait just a minute!" I hear you cry. "Who is this Amy woman and why does she have a human name!?"**

 **In universe answer- the Clem have vocal cords capable of making the same sounds as human ones, so coincidentally, her first name is the same as a human name, and her surname is just the Clem translation for the word "Archer."**

 **Behind the scenes answer- Amy and Atlas were characters from my novel Hell Off-World (Google it, it's free!) and I had so much fun writing them, I wanted to put them in something else.**


	5. Chapter 5

With the power out, the ship's security had lessened. It was a hardwired failsafe in almost all Clem ships, that, when the power cut, safety doors would open before the generators gave out. It was designed to help survivors in the exact situation Stevonnie and the Doctor found themselves in.

The Doctor raced up the wall of the arena, as it sloped upwards, leaping forwards just before gravity claimed him back, and grabbed the doorway which led from the arena to the rest of the ship. Stevonnie leapt into the air and floated into the doorway with much more ease.

"Need a hand?" They sniggered, holding one out to the Doctor.

The Doctor took Stevonnie's hand and, to his great surprise, was immediately lifted upwards into the doorway, as though he were a bag of feathers.

"So... who are you exactly?" The Doctor asked Stevonnie, somewhat worried about sounding blunt.

"Stevonnie." They replied. "Fusion of Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran, sir."

The Doctor cringed slightly at being called "sir". "And Connie's a human?" He asked, incredulously.

Stevonnie rubbed the back of their head, awkwardly. "Yeah... no one's really sure how I'm possible... Probably because Steven's half human?"

The Doctor frowned. There _was_ a certain poetry to that, but scientifically speaking, a half Gem fusing with a human seemed even less possible than a full Gem. Then again, who was he to talk? He had fused with Steven too. Even if his biology had been more moldable than usual, on account of his regeneration, it was just as unprecedented.

The corridor ended and, where it had once turned left and right, leading along the outside of the ship, now ran vertical, curving slightly back the way they came. Fortunately, it was also lined with empty cells, the bars of which were as good as ladders in their current position. The Doctor leapt across the corridor and started to climb, and Stevonnie followed suit. Beneath them, the ship gave an ominous groan.

"So, who are you?" Stevonnie asked, trying to keep their mind off the ship's position. With Garnet's future vision, they could see it sinking further into the swamp at any second. Their heart pounded anxiously. "I mean, Steven kinda knows, and he told Connie some stuff, but... you're an alien, right?"

The Doctor reached another relatively flat corridor, heading back into the middle of the ship. He leapt back across the vertical corridor and climbed to his feet, then turned around to help Stevonnie do the same.

"On this planet, we're both aliens." He reminded them.

"That's right!" Stevonnie's eyes widened in realisation. "We're on an alien planet right now!"

The Doctor beamed like a child on Christmas morning. "I know!"

Stevonnie didn't share the Doctor's joy. "No, you don't understand! I'm three quarters human!" They grabbed the front of the Doctor's coat in a panic. "Micro-organisms are infecting my lungs! The likes of which my body isn't adapted to deal with!"

Stevonnie began to hyperventilate. They fell to their knees and grabbed handfuls of their hair. The Doctor quickly joined them on the ground, and placed a reassuring hand on their shoulder.

"Hey! Hey hey hey, it's okay, breathe!" The Doctor waited for Stevonnie's breathing to slow, slightly. "H. G. Wells was many wonderful things... Including the best man at two of my weddings... But an expert on alien biology he was not. You're going to be fine."

"Really...?"

"I mean... maybe he was right about Martians, but you'd be surprised how the human immune system holds its own on alien worlds."

There was life in Mars... Stevonnie didn't really have time to deal with that new information, especially since, at that moment, a sinister roar echoed from the ship above them. It sounded like a human doing a very convincing impression of a lion, or even vice versa. Accompanying the sound, were a series of crashes, like something was ramming into the walls of the ship. The ship groaned again, in protest and Stevonnie and the Doctor felt it tremor slightly. Above the duo, was a corridor leading directly upwards.

Stevonnie quickly shot to their feet. They closed their eyes and fanned their face with their hands. "Just breathe... It's okay..." They whispered to themself. Their eyes shot open and they exhaled through their nose. "Doctor, do I have your permission to carry you up there?"

The Doctor cringed. That sounded harmful to his dignity, but he couldn't think of many practical alternatives. "Ehh, yeah I suppose so..."

The Doctor had barely finished his sentence, when Stevonnie swept him into their arms and shot upwards, like a superhero. As the corridor levelled, they span around in the air, placed their feet on the floor and flew towards the source of the sound. The new corridor ended with a door which was only open a crack, the occasional burst of sparks gave away the fact that it was malfunctioning. The crashing sound continued, coming from just beyond the door.

The Doctor produced his sonic screwdriver and removed a panel from the side. Most of the components were perfectly intact, but the processing module in the center was fried beyond repair. As the Doctor carefully removed it, Stevonnie stepped up to the door, placed their hands in the gap and heaved It open, with a screech of protesting metal.

On the other side of the door, Stevonnie and the Doctor found what they had been looking for. The monster on the ship was a hulking figure, like a seriously overweight human, only taller. It was concealed entirely in ragged and torn, black fabric, the only visible parts of its body were three bony fingers on each hand, each a couple of feet long, and an enormous pair of black, skeletal wings. Before Stevonnie had entered, it had been ramming its fingertips against a closed door, above it.

Stevonnie drew Rose's sword from the scabbard on their back, and summonded Steven's shield on their other hand. "Doctor, what the heck is this thing?"

"It's an umbromorph..." The Doctor said, disbelief in his voice. "But what's it doing?"

"I don't know, trying to get out?" Stevonnie suggested. "What do we do?"

"Don't worry, they look scary, but they're utterly non-violent." The Doctor reassured them.

As though the umbromorph had understood him (which it couldn't have), it gave another inhuman roar, and charged towards the Doctor and Stevonnie. The Doctor leapt out of the way, and Stevonnie increased the size of their shield, to make up for their attacker's size. The monster collided with Stevonnie's shield, sending them sliding backwards on the balls of their feet, and slamming into the wall behind them.

"What!?" The Doctor blurted.

None of this made sense. Umbromorphs were able to phase between dimensions at will. There was no Clem technology that could confine one, and no reason the Doctor could think of, why one would attack a three-dimensional person. Stevonnie thrust one of their feet upwards, kicking the creature's head back, then, taking advantage of its stunned condition, they leapt gracefully over its head, landing between it and the Doctor.

"Stevonnie, I need one of your phones!" The Doctor said.

Without turning around, and keeping their sword trained on the Umbromorph, Stevonnie pulled Steven's phone out of one of their pockets and threw it over their shoulder for the Doctor to catch. When the Umbromorph turned around, it released the most ear-splitting screech yet, and charged forwards. Stevonnie swung their sword at the monster, but it effortlessly stopped the weapon with one of its hands. With Stevonnie's free hand, they summoned a shield and threw it at the monster's head, causing it to release the sword, and Stevonnie followed through with a forceful jump kick to the centre of its chest.

While Stevonnie and the umbromorph fought, the Doctor was tapping his thumbs on Steven's phone like a blur. On the screen, he wrote line after line of code, faster than any human could simply tap the same key. When he was done, he pulled a long, thin cable from the base of the screwdriver, and plugged it into the phone. On the screen, was an interface software the Doctor had just created, featuring five sliders, and when he adjusted them, the sonic screwdriver's bulb illuminated, and made a sound in adjustable frequencies. It was crude, but it would have to do.

The Doctor took a moment to recall what he knew about Clem arena ships and their layout, and quickly realised where the nearest airlock would be. "Stevonnie, this way!"

Deterring the creature with one last projectile shield, Stevonnie turned and ran after the Doctor. As they ran, Stevonnie noticed the closed doors beneath their feet and above them. "Hey Doc, how come these doors are still closed?"

"Must be long-term storage. No need to open these up since no one goes in them."

Towards the end of the corridor, the airlock was directly above them, and, several feet beyond that, a vertical drop, leading back towards the arena. Stevonnie and the Doctor stood just beyond the airlock, nervously backing towards the drop, as the monster closed in on them. The Doctor pointed the screwdriver upwards, while moving the sliders back and forth, causing the device to smoothly alternate in pitch, like the cry of a whale.

"Doc..." Stevonnie urged the Doctor to hurry.

"It's 'Doctor'…" The Doctor corrected them.

Finally, the screwdriver emitted a solid buzzing tone, and the pair of doors between them and freedom slid open. The umbromorph halted in its pursuit as it ran into the beam of sunlight and slowly looked up. Stevonnie and the Doctor sighed in relief, assured that the creature would leave the ship, and that they could follow. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

With another screech, the monster lunged at the duo with its bony hands. The Doctor was able to duck away in time, but Stevonnie was rammed backwards. They flew across the vertical corridor behind them, and their head slammed against the opposite wall. With another flash of light, a barely conscious Steven and Connie appeared, just before they began to fall.

The Doctor thrust his hand over the edge, all too late. "STEVEN! CONNIE!" He screamed, desperately.

With his hearts pounding desperately in his ears, the Doctor didn't hear the roar of a hover engine until it was almost on top of him. Turning around, he saw a small hoverbike being driven down the corridor at full speed, by a young Clem woman, with an android behind her. The girl leapt off the bike, rolling acrobatically, before it slammed into the umbromorph, sending it, the bike, and the android, falling down towards the arena.

"Atlas! Save those two!" The woman cried.

Having been sitting motionlessly on the seat, even while it crashed into the monster, Atlas suddenly sprung into life. They heaved the bike upside-down, placed their feet on the seat and propelled themselves downwards, pinning their arms and legs to their sides. With aerodynamics on their side, Atlas closed the gap between themself and the children in seconds, they wrapped an arm around each child's torso just as they entered the cavernous arena. Atlas spun around in the air, and, with perfect timing, bent their legs on impact with the floor, winding Steven and Connie, but not harming either of them. This time, they had fallen into the spectator's area of the arena, on one of many sideways rows of seats.

Before putting the children down, Atlas leapt backwards, as the umbromorph came crashing into the arena, sending several dozen seats flying. Amy's hoverbike came floating gently down after it. Before the umbromorph picked itself up, the ship gave its biggest, most ominous groan yet. Each organic person on the ship felt a queasy feeling, like suddenly shooting downwards on a rollercoaster, as the ship sunk several feet deeper into the swamp. Steven and Connie looked towards the skylight, in dread. Luckily, it was holding, but the hole Peridot had made had fallen below the water level, and putrid, green water had begun pouring into the ship.

"Steven, what do we do?" Connie asked, rhetorically. "The umbromorph's not a corrupted Gem! We can't kill it, can we...?"

"The Doctor said these things should be harmless, something must be wrong with it!" Steven replied.

Connie turned to Atlas. "Hey! Excuse me!" Atlas turned to face her. "Thanks for saving us. Do you know anything about these creatures?"

Atlas' eyes flickered for a few seconds. "Umbromorph- a partially undead lifeform known to manifest on seventeen planets within the Clem Empire. Umbromorphs are..."

Before Atlas could continue their recitation, the umbromorph charged at them once again. Steven quickly countered its strikes with his shield, before Connie leapt over him and slashed with her sword. Pearl had, on occasion, taught Connie how to use a sword to fight humans without seriously harming them, and hoped the umbromorph had similar pain receptors, but it didn't react in the slightest to Connie's cut.

Atlas had continued talking, throughout the small skirmish. "Why would one attack someone!?" Steven interrupted them.

"Umbromorphs are extra-dimensional creatures, who manifest in our dimension by animating the remains of the dead. They are impervious to all terrestrial means of harm, and have no reason to attack 3-dimensional life forms."

The umbromorph screeched at them again, before leaping acrobatically over the three of them, and climbing up the fencing around the arena, heading back up to where they had come from, showing no more interest in fighting. Steven, Connie and Atlas began to follow suit, climbing up the seats, as swamp water began to fill the ship below them. Amy's bike lifted into the air, as the water approached it, hovering just above the surface.

"Connie, let's fuse again!" Steven suggested. "We can go after it!"

"Steven wait, think about it! The umbromorph doesn't want to fight us, or get out of the ship, it just wanted to get in that storage room, and it only attacked us when we got close to it!" Connie pointed out, as she realised it herself. "But what's in there?"

Moments earlier, after Steven and Connie had fallen, the Doctor had taken one look at Amy, and noticed a Clem grappling hook on her belt. Before either of them said a word, the Doctor snatched the device and trained it at the edge of the drop. Before the Doctor fired, Amy made to grab it back.

"Hey! Don't touch my stuff!" She snapped indignantly.

"My friends are down there!" The Doctor snarled, angrily.

Amy managed to wrestle her grappling hook back from the Doctor. "And you're gonna do what? Help them kill the umbromorph? You can't kill an umbromorph! The only way that thing's gonna calm down, is if we get it its eggs back!"

The Doctor was stunned beyond being angry for a moment. "Eggs...?"

"Yeah eggs! Where have you been?"

That was always a difficult question for the Doctor to answer, after all, where _hadn't_ he been? The Doctor had always assumed umbromorphs gave birth in an alternate dimension, since umbromorph children were a fairly common sight, but so far as he knew, no one had ever seen a baby.

Amy continued. "A few months back, scouts found an asteroid crawling with those things and their eggs, and then sick creeps like the guys who run this place realised that if you hold umbromorph eggs hostage, the parents won't fade away until they get them back."

"Oh..." The Doctor said, somewhat startled by the new development, although not for long. "Well, we better get those eggs then!"

As though a switch had been flipped, the Doctor sprung into action and raced down the storage corridor. Amy quickly followed.

"They'll be in one of these..." She began, but the Doctor knew full well where the eggs were.

"They're in this one." The Doctor pointed at the doors the umbromorph had been bashing against.

He produced his sonic screwdriver and Steven's phone again. Holding the screwdriver in his teeth, the Doctor began working on the sliders.

"I came here to steal stuff." Amy said, only slightly bemused by what the Doctor was doing. "I can get this open."

While the Doctor worked, Amy launched her grappling hook to the wall next to the locking mechanism and pulled herself up. Connecting the grapple back to her belt, she pulled a small, brick-shaped device from her pocket and plugged it into the panel by the door. After a few moments of silent work, save for the whirring of the sonic screwdriver, the pair heard a sound getting steadily louder. It was the sound of metal being repeatedly pierced, as the umbromorph climbed back towards them. The Doctor felt a pit in his stomach as he hoped it had been more interested in returning to its eggs, than fighting off Steven and Connie.

"Gonna be honest, this lock's a bit tough." Amy admitted, with fear in her voice. "If you're gonna do something, now would be the time. It won't sit around and wait for us to get this open."

The Doctor sharply inhaled through his teeth. "It's deadlocked... Start a decryption program. I'll try and boost your processing speed."

Clem symbols flashed by in a blur on Amy's device, as it raced through countless combinations for unlocking codes. At the end of the corridor a monstrous, skeletal hand emerged from over the edge, and its skeletal owner soon followed.

"Any time..." Amy urged the Doctor.

As the umbromorph approached, Amy desperately attempted to disconnect her grapple cable from her belt and the Doctor looked anxiously between the creature and his new associate, but moments before the duo met the undead parent's wrath, it slowed in its advance, in response to a sound coming from behind it. Its distraction wasn't without good cause. The last time the umbromorph had heard the sound, just minutes ago, it had been run into by a hoverbike, except now, the sound was different. Instead of being a solid humming sound, it was stuttering, and accompanied by the sound of metal hitting metal.

With a roar of its engine, Amy's hoverbike flew from the end of the corridor, with a screaming Stevonnie behind the handlebars, and Atlas behind them. The bike flew recklessly into the ceiling, before blasting, on its side, towards the umbromorph, with Stevonnie rapidly kicking their left foot against the floor, to keep them airborne. Just before impact, Stevonnie slammed both feet into the ground and pulled the bike around, so that the hover panels pointed squarely at the creature. With one, mighty rev of the handlebars, the umbromorph was propelled along the corridor, straight past the Doctor and Amy.

"That... was nothing like driving a car..." Stevonnie breathlessly noted.

Not a moment too soon, the panel Amy was working on lit up green, and the doors slid open. From inside, four spheres, the size of basketballs and seemingly made entirely of black smoke, floated gently downwards to the ground. The umbromorph picked itself up and roared desperately, as though pleading for its eggs not to be harmed.

Amy dropped nimbly to the ground and took the bike's handlebars from Stevonnie. Beneath them, the group could feel the ship beginning to sink faster, and the smell of swamp water was getting steadily stronger.

"Right, all aboard." Amy said. "And how about people who can actually drive, up front?" She glared at Stevonnie, after looking over the scratch marks and dents all over the bike's casing.

The group clambered awkwardly onto the small bike, as Amy revved up the engine.

"Didn't two of you fall down there?" Amy suddenly remembered, before disembarking.

"Nope, just me." Stevonnie lied, rather than giving a long-winded explanation of fusion, with an umbromorph behind them, and rising swamp water in front. "Go go go!"

With some wobbling and protest due to its extra passengers, Amy's bike shot along the corridor, and up out of the airlock. Before they left, the group just caught sight of the umbromorph, as it cradled the gaseous eggs in its skeletal fingers and, as swamp water began to fill the corridor behind it, it vanished in a puff of black smoke.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Thanks for reading/reviewing etc etc. I haven't really said yet, but this story is gonna be a fair bit longer than It's Over Isn't It? so all of this so far is pretty much just setting the scene, and introducing the characters, so we won't be seeing the umbromorph again. It was originally going to be a Weeping Angel, but then I realised that would mean the Doctor leaving a Weeping Angel buried in a swamp, outside a city full of people, which would be fairly irresponsible of him.**


	6. Chapter 6

Police vessels filled the air, like mosquitoes, each one a single pod with a curved windscreen, six thrusters on it, and an anxious officer of the law inside. After the last traces of the arena sip had vanished beneath the swamp water with a burst of bubbles, the city's council had gone into an uproar. A ship worth billions of credits had just been lost forever, and someone was going to pay for it.

Early reports indicated that a gigantic, four-armed woman had been seen fleeing the craft moments after it arrived, but, even though blurry images had been captured by the first officers on the scene, the majority of people involved were skeptical, since there was no such species known to the empire.

The crafts buzzed overhead, scanning every inch of the sparse jungle of trees, reaching out of the swamp, within a pre-designated radius. Not far from the impact site, a small cluster of trees wound around each other, reaching upwards in a helix, with a sizeable empty space between them at the roots, and it was in that space, that Stevonnie, Atlas, the Doctor, and Amy huddled.

"There are a lot of them out there..." Amy noted, inching her head towards the opening, between the tree roots. Even though she probably should, she didn't sound particularly worried.

"They should have found us by now..." The Doctor noted, through gritted teeth. "Between our body heat and radio waves from this one." He jutted his thumb at Atlas. "A single one of those pods could find us in a heartbeat."

"Not my first rodeo, buddy." Amy assured him.

From a pouch on her belt, Amy produced a small device with a pair of short antenna sticking out the top, and showed it to the Doctor.

"Signal scrambler..." The Doctor noted, impressed.

Such a device wasn't all that rare for a wealthy Clem, but what impressed the Doctor, was that this one seemed to have been built from scratch, and must have been top-of-the-line quality, or else they would have already been captured.

"Yeah, but it won't take them long to notice the blip in the system. Once they scan the swamp and don't find us, they'll amp up the scan level, and we'll be screwed." Amy said, persistently calm.

"Stevonnie, where were the others going?" The Doctor asked.

Turning around, the Doctor saw Stevonnie sitting cross-legged in the mud, their eyes closed and breathing loudly through their nose.

"Are you okay...?" The Doctor asked, wary of the fusion's suffering from panic attacks, especially given their current situation.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine..." Stevonnie said. Based on the tone of their voice, the Doctor suspected they were being half-truthful, at best. "I'm just trying to concentrate. When I came apart earlier, I lost my future vision, and when I came back, it was... faint."

"Can you see the others?" The Doctor asked, hopefully, but trying not to exert too much pressure on them.

" _Came apart?_ _Future vision?_ " Amy asked, with a scoff. "What are you two banging on about?"

After a few seconds without answering, Stevonnie's eyes shot open. They climbed to their feet and made their way to Amy's bike. Pulling it to the center of their small hiding place, Stevonnie mounted the bike and targeted it at the swamp outside.

"Oooh no! No no no!" Amy insisted. "You are not driving my bike again, and it is not going out there!"

"There's a... window... coming up." Stevonnie tried to explain, half-heartedly. "Like, I think there's gonna be five seconds where none of the cops are looking this way."

Putting aside the fact that Amy didn't believe that Stevonnie could see the future, Amy snorted condescendingly. "What are we gonna do in five seconds!?"

Stevonnie furrowed their brow in frustration. "I... I don't know, but I really feel like we're supposed to take this opportunity."

The Doctor climbed on to the bike behind Stevonnie. "Seems to me, our choices are to trust in our friend here and... probably get ourselves caught, or stay in here and definitely get caught." He reasoned.

Amy sighed, and resignedly got on the bike behind the Doctor, and indicated for Atlas to do the same. The group waited anxiously, as Stevonnie muttered under their breath, mentally preparing themself. Amy was just about to comment again on how ridiculous she found the whole affair, when Stevonnie audibly muttered, "Three... Two... One..."

With a roar of the engine, the hover bike shot out from under the trees, and out into the open swamp. Immediately after they were in the open, the Roaming Eye ascended eerily from the swamp in front of them, with swamp slime dripping off it, and the door flew open. The bike zoomed inside, and its passengers heaved forwards into each other as the handlebars met with Garnet's waiting hands. Once they were on board, the doors closed again, and swamp water rose past the windows, as the small ship sunk back down. Startled by the impact, Stevonnie came apart once more, and, with a flash of light, Steven and Connie fell over the bike's handlebars, at Garnet's feet.

"Not bad you too." Garnet said, with a slight smile. "We'll make a clairvoyant out of Stevonnie, yet."

"There _are_ two of you!" Amy gasped, getting off the bike. "Also, this thing is bigger on the inside..."

The Doctor noted that, even though Amy was deeply confused, she wasn't panicked or angered by the things she didn't understand. In fact, there was almost a yearning in her voice, presumably to understand how the alien biology and technology worked. Despite their situation, the Doctor couldn't help but think what a good companion Amy would make.

"Who _are_ you people?" Amy asked.

Looking around the ship, she saw a small group of individuals of species she recognised, obviously the captive fighters from the arena ship, based on their size and clothes, but the others on the ship, the band of mulit-coloured humanoids who were clearly more comfortable with the ship and each other, eluded identification.

"We're the Crystal Gems." Garnet announced. "A band of rebels dedicated to protecting a planet called earth from our own kind. We're here because our associate was taken aboard that ship against his will."

The Doctor was grateful for Garnet's choice of words. She could have easily (and justly) blamed the Doctor for their situation, since he inadvertently abducted Lapis.

Amy cringed and looked away from Garnet's visor. "Yeah... I'm sorry about that. Ark Fleets operate just outside of Clem jurisdiction, so they can pretty much do whatever they want. Most Clems are fully against what goes on in those arenas, myself included. They'd never get away with that here in the city."

Garnet frowned. Obviously she was above blaming the actions of one group on their entire species. After all, what would that mean for her and the rest of the Crystal Gems?

In the corner of the ship, Peridot and Lapis were pointing their palms to their feet, concentrating their powers on keeping the Roaming Eye stationary. "If I might interrupt?" Peridot said. "Do we have a plan for getting back to earth, or are we to live in this swamp for the rest of our lives?"

"The swamp life will scramble their signals a bit, but even down here, the police will find us before long." Amy said.

"The police are here because they want to arrest us for smashing the ship, right?" Connie asked, rhetorically. "But their main job is probably to protect the city..."

Steven was the first to realise what Connie was getting at. "If Alexandrite went on a rampage and scared everyone, they'd leave and we could get the Roaming Eye to safety!"

"No." Garnet immediately replied.

"But that could work!" Steven protested, although he had to admit a large part of his enthusiasm for the plan came from a desire to see a Gem recreation of a Godzilla movie. "Why not?"

"Because even Alexandrite couldn't stand up to the full force of the Shipyard City Police." The Doctor explained. "Her Gems would be in a lab in the Clem Imperial System within the hour."

"It's half of a good plan though." Garnet admitted, thoughtfully, adjusting her visor slightly. "We just need a fusion who can cause chaos without being seen."

Much to the bemusement of the rest Roaming Eye's occupants, the Crystal Gems and the Doctor looked back and forth, considering all the fusions they knew of.

"Wait!" Steven announced the arrival of an idea. "If the Doctor and I form White Point Star again, we can just rewind time so we never get stuck here in the first place!"

Both Pearl and Amy rolled their eyes, thinking the same thing.

"Steven I don't know what happened after Alexandrite was defeated in the desert, but it's not possible to rewind an individual's timeline!" Pearl insisted, not for the first time, since their last meeting with the Doctor. "And you couldn't have _really_ fused with the Doctor! He's a..."

"...Time Lord." The Doctor finished Pearl's sentence, seamlessly.

Pearl groaned under her breath. "Don't start that again! There's no such thing as Time Lords!"

"We can't though..." The Doctor said, in response to Steven's suggestion (and taking some pleasure from Pearl's frustration at being ignored). "We were only able to fuse because I was regenerating, and even if we could, it's like I... like _he_ said at the time. No one should have that kind of power, it's not safe for you, or the fabric of spacetime."

Steven frowned. Disappointed both that he could never be White Point Star again, and that they still needed a plan.

"Not to worry though Steven, I had a different fusion in mind, anyway." Garnet said, with a smile.

The group followed the direction Garnet's visor was pointed in, to Lapis and Peridot.

"Us...?" Lapis asked, nonchalantly. Peridot cringed nervously.

Steven had excitedly told anyone who would listen, of the time the second Big Bird attacked the barn, and Lapis and Peridot had fused to save him. The pair had, on occasion, fused in the barn, but no one except Steven had actually met the resulting individual.

Garnet approached the pair and crouched down slightly, so as to place a reassuring hand on each Gem's shoulder. "I know your fusion is new and special to the pair of you, and I'd never ask you to fuse for us if it makes you uncomfortable, but we would all appreciate Jade's help."

"Yeah, it's cool." Lapis said, without a care in the world. "What do you think, Peridot?"

Peridot grinned nervously, like a nerd who'd been asked out by the coolest girl in school. She tried (and failed) to regain her composure. "Well... I suppose it was inevitable that the Crystal Gems would have need of Jade's incredible power sooner or later."

The two stopped manipulating the ship and the swamp, and the former sunk a few inches and leaned over slightly, as it rested on the swamp bed. Lapis and Peridot took each other's hands, and began to dance, subconsciously recreating the scene from Camp Pining Hearts, in which Paulette and Percy had attended the camp dance together. The Gem in the base of Lapis' neck began to shine, but as their dance reached its crescendo, and Lapis leaned forwards, holding Peridot in her arms, she noticed that her partner's gem was still dull.

Peridot looked nervously to the underwhelmed crowd. "Umm, would you all mind turning around, please?" She blushed a darker shade of green. "I... don't think I can do it with you all watching."

Garnet, immediately and without question, turned on the spot. The rest of the ship's occupants were more hesitant, either reluctant to miss seeing the pair fuse for the first time, or exasperated by how ridiculous the whole thing seemed, but one by one, everyone turned around to the outside of the ship. Seconds after Amy had sighed and spun around on her heel, a bright, turquoise glow filled the Roaming Eye's interior.

"Hey guys." Came Jade's voice. "Nice to meet you all!"

Lapis and Peridot's fusion was just slightly taller than Garnet. She had turquoise skin and, although she still only had two arms and two legs, betraying the fact that she was a fusion were the two pairs of eyes, beneath a light blue visor. The garb-like parts of her body resembled a light blue sun dress, a black jacket and a practical pair of boots, and her medium-length, dark green hair bunched up around her shoulders.

"Nice to meet you, too." Garnet said, casually.

Jade grinned cheesily and averted her eyes, as though meeting a celebrity. "Yeah... cool..."

"You need to create a storm directly over the city. Make it seem like you intend to hurt people, but don't, and most importantly, you yourself must avoid being seen at all costs." Garnet instructed.

"Right, so you have lightning powers, right?" The Doctor assumed, based on Garnet's words, and the subtle static field he had sensed, immediately after they fused. "There are a few skyscrapers in the city with radar dishes which will be able to detect and scan you. You'll need to destroy those first, or they'll know the storm is being created by a person." He turned to Amy. "You... Clem girl. Sorry, what was your name?"

"Amy."

"Amy, do you have some kind of map of the city?"

"Sure."

Amy walked over to the Doctor and Jade, and pulled from one of her deeper pockets, a data pad not unlike the tablets used on earth. She tapped on it a few times, and a 3D model of the city flickered reluctantly into life.

"Okay, here... here... and here..." The Doctor pointed them out. "You'll need to destroy them quickly, but not immediately, otherwise they'll know they're under attack."

"Okay.. I think I got it..." Jade said, unreassuringly. "I'll go stir things up. See you in the city after you've snuck in!"

Before anyone could make sure Jade knew what she was doing, or even clarify where they would meet, Jade vanished in a crackle of green light, and several arcs of green lightning danced across the ground and around the ship's door.

-x-x-x-

Shipyard City was still abuzz over the recalled ship in the swamp, especially now that news had spread that the ship, having landed above a large gas pocket, had been promptly swallowed, and would probably never fly again. No public report had been released yet, although rumors were already beginning to spread that the ship had been destroyed by four-armed aliens from outside of the empire.

Those who could spare the time, were still lined up along the edge of the city, staring out at the swamp, and the blizzard of police vehicles that still filled the air, awaiting the moment when they returned, with the alien attackers in custody.

With all eyes on the swamp, it wasn't until an ominous rumble of thunder echoed across the city, that attention was pulled to the sky. Because of the humidity, the sky above the Shipyard was cloudy for most of the year, and it quite often rained, but no one had ever seen the skies darken quite so quickly. Thunderstorms weren't unheard of either, but when the first bolt of lightning tore through the heavens, and obliterated an unoccupied stretch of pavement, the terrified crowd was startled to notice that it was GREEN.

One by one, green thunderbolts began to ravage the city, striking buildings, roads, and narrowly missing the ships in the sky, in some defiance of the laws of physics. Shipyard citizens began to scatter in a panic. The ships in the sky deviated from the allocated flight routes, buzzing back and forth chaotically in a desperate attempt to land somewhere.

Sure enough, the police in the swamp quickly flew back to the city. One by one, the police vehicles were encased in a light blue forcefield, and placed themselves in strategic points, to draw lightning to themselves, wherever in the city it struck.

Far above, in a shroud of smoky clouds, Jade hung in the air, surveying the scene below her. She had discovered, while she was experimenting in the barn, that she was able to sense the current in electronic devices, like the TV and Peridot's tablet. In the vast, technological city, it was as though the entire metropolis shone brightly in her mind's eye, allowing her to attack through the clouds, without being seen, herself. Notably, she could see the police vehicles, intercepting her lightning bolts. This would have been fine, ideal even, as it meant no one would get hurt, but there were still plenty of police vehicles in the swamp, still scanning for the Gems.

"H... hey! That's cheating!" She cried in irritation, even though no one could hear her. She took a deep breath and braced herself for what she was about to do. "Come on Jade... You've got this! You lifted an ocean when you were only half as strong as you are now..."

Jade screwed up her face in concentration, and her gems glowed brightly. The storm cloud began to expand, rumbling menacingly, and stray flickers of lightning dancing back and forth. Once the cloud covered the city and the region of the swamp the police were searching, its expansion began to slow. The flickering of lightning increased in intensity, like a gem, summoning a weapon. In a split second, hundreds of lightning bolts filled the sky, all but blinding anyone who wasn't already huddling indoors. Each bolt struck one police vehicle, tearing through the shields, and short-circuiting them, leaving them to collapse lifelessly to the ground, or float on the surface of the swamp, with their pilots stunned, but unharmed.

The storm clouds slowly began to fade, and Jade feebly tried to stay in the air, with what little strength she had left.

"Yeah... That'll do it..."

* * *

 **Again, this is in the same canon as my story "Lapidot to the Rescue".**


	7. Chapter 7

The Crystal Gems had a relatively slow night. After Jade's thunderstorm knocked out the police vehicles, Garnet had swam through the swamp, pushing the Roaming Eye towards the city, ultimately jumping out of the water, holding it above her head, and quickly running into Amy's garage. Soon after, the lights had begun to flicker, and Jade materialised with a flash of green light, before collapsing to her knees with a sigh, and separating, revealing an exhausted Peridot and Lapis.

With no one eager to go back outside, with the city still on red alert, Steven had elected to entertain the group inside the Roaming Eye with his vocal musical talents and Amy had soon joined in with the Clem equivalent of an acoustic guitar. The Doctor had enjoyed himself briefly, before leaving for the garage. Hopefully Amy would have a processor to hand, capable of replacing Steven's phone in keeping his screwdriver operational.

Already in the garage, Connie, Lapis and Peridot were sitting together in a corner, excitedly talking about Jade. The Doctor smiled cordially at them, before getting to work. Even though Amy didn't have any perceivable organisational system, the Doctor soon found the parts he was looking for, and began working on them, making minor adjustments to the hardware, and writing more lines of code on Steven's phone, to upload to the miniature computer. The Doctor had been working for several minutes, when he noticed Connie, Lapis and Peridot's conversation slow to a halt. Looking around, he saw Connie had walked over, and was nervously awaiting his attention.

"Erm... Mister Doctor?"

"It's just 'the Doctor'." He corrected, with a smile.

"Right. I'm not sure if time runs at the same rate in different regions of the universe, but if it does, my mom's gonna be coming to Steven's house to pick me up pretty soon..." Her voice was ridden with concern and guilt.

The Doctor cringed. His cheek tingled slightly as he remembered the last time he had inadvertently separated a young girl from her mother. He made some final adjustments to his processing unit, and secured it to the sonic screwdriver with some copper wire and tape.

"Let's see your phone." The Doctor requested.

Connie held her phone out for the Doctor to take. Instead, he pointed the sonic screwdriver at it, and illuminated the bulb. The screen on Connie's phone flickered slightly, until the Doctor was done.

"Universal roaming." The Doctor explained. "In a tunnel? Middle of a forest? Alien planet? No problemo." The Doctor frowned slightly, wondering if 'no problemo' was something he wanted to get in the habit of saying.

"You mean I can call earth?" Connie asked, in disbelief. "Wait, do I have an internet connection too!?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Kids these days, and their gadgets. Despite being a time traveller, the Doctor liked to maintain a loosely established timeline on earth, to which he defaulted, meaning he was as new to smart phones as most old geezers. They were nothing he couldn't get his head around, obviously, but they WERE slightly trickier to integrate with a sonic screwdriver. After connecting Connie's phone to earth's internet, with another buzz of his screwdriver, the Doctor did the same to Steven's.

Connie had just selected her mother's phone number in her contact list, when she frowned thoughtfully. "What am I gonna tell her?" She wondered aloud. "Do you know how long it'll take to fix the Roaming Eye?"

The Doctor seemed hesitant to answer, but fortunately, Peridot had none of his tact. "The Roaming Eye is very unlikely to ever fly again. The power cells were ruptured in the arena." She told Connie. "Fully functional, it has the power punch holes in reality, and the failsafes won't permit it to fly unless it's fully charged, something _far_ beyond the abilities of _this_ cloddy planet."

The Doctor hastily continued. "But we'll find a way, Connie. I promise you that. I won't let you and Steven get stuck here."

"Wow, thanks." Lapis sarcastically droned. "No obligation to the Gem you kidnapped though?"

The Doctor cocked his head condescendingly. "I'm sorry, raise your hand if you're hundreds of years old and capable of looking after yourself."

After a moment of being stared at sternly by the Doctor, Lapis rolled her eyes and lifted her hand. The Doctor did the same thing, confusing Connie slightly. The two of them looked at Peridot for a few seconds before she noticed them.

"Oh... right." She spluttered, lifting her hand, too.

Satisfied she didn't have any more information to relay to her mother, Connie started the call.

"Hi mom!

…

Yeah, have you left for Steven's house yet?

…

Erm... well the thing is...

…

No, I'm fine, totally fine!"

Connie took a deep breath and tensed up her face, in preparation to explain her entire situation, all at once.

"Lapis got abducted by an alien ship so Peridot asked us all to go save her but the ship malfunctioned and now we're all stranded on an alien planet."

Connie gasped for air and winced at the response her mother was giving her.

"No! Not those kind of aliens! It actually looks just like Empire City here. One of Steven's other alien friends is here, and he and Peridot are gonna get the Gem's ship working. I'll be home really soon, I promise!" Connie frowned apologetically at the Doctor and moved the phone away from her mouth. "She wants to talk to you."

If one of the Doctor's recent companions had been with him, they would have compared his expression to the one he wore whenever he realised the Daleks were still alive. He quickly grabbed his sonic screwdriver and a handful of machinery on Amy's work surface, and made a grand display of being very busy, shrugging apologetically at Connie.

"Uhhh, he's busy working on the ship..." Connnie said. "You can talk to Garnet if you want?"

The night wore on slowly. Once Steven and Amy got tired of singing, Amethyst entertained the group with a display of her shapeshifting powers, and not long after that, the group began to go to sleep. Peridot and Lapis remained in the garage, where Lapis convinced Peridot to try sleeping, with her. Ultimately, only the Doctor, Pearl and Garnet stayed up, quietly learning about the city they were in, and further examining the Roaming Eye.

-x-x-x-

"Looks like things have calmed down a little out there."

Amy had a small flat on the floor above the garage. She descended the stairs, the following morning in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, while catching up on the news outside with her data pad.

"Yeah, funny that." The Doctor had donned his glasses and was monitoring the city's news on Steven's phone. "Massive thunderstorm comes out of nowhere, you'd think people would be more alarmed, but everyone's just going about their day."

"Well the storm was new, but the city's learnt to just roll with electrical outbursts from time to time, what with the _energy vampires_."

Amy said the last two words in an overly-dramatic voice, to indicate derision, but the Doctor's curiosity was piqued, nonetheless.

"Energy vampires?"

The conversation was interrupted when Blaaarg appeared in the Roaming Eye's doorway.

"Doctor, did you say everything's calmed down outside?"

The Doctor snapped back to attention, like a soldier. "Right, Blaaarg, yes I expect you'll be wanting to get back home." He started tapping on Steven's phone, finding more news reports. "I was talking about the storm... but it looks like the police have no leads on what happened to the ship, and the ship's data banks were destroyed in the crash, so nothing to tie any of us to what happened."

Blaaarg exhaled loudly, sighing in relief. "Thank goodness. Although I can't see how I'll be able to afford a ship fare to..."

"Already working on it. I've found the Imperial citizen files of all the fighters, just need to up everyone's balance, so they can afford some tickets."

Clem citizens were registered into a database the moment they passed a device which could scan their eyes (or eye, in Blaaarg's case), which included almost any camera. It sounded sinister, but the intention was that credit could be assigned to individuals without the need for physical money, and without the risk of fraud.

"You're gonna buy like twenty tickets to all corners of the empire?" Amy asked, sounding sceptical. "How rich are you?"

"Not a penny." The Doctor assured her. Once again, he started writing codes on Steven's phone, his thumbs like a blur. "Buuut... the Clem financial database only uses seventeen layers of encryption. Anyone could hack into this with a decryption program working with a thirty-two character alphabet, alternating each character at an exponential rate of..."

Garnet, who had been leaning against the wall of the garage with her arms crossed, chose to interject. "Today's Imperial Grand Access Code is 2018562B-3."

The Doctor was crestfallen. "Aww... I would have figured it out on my own, you know..."

Amy scepticism was slowly giving way to disbelief. "Are you sure? How... how do you know?"

Garnet adjusted her visor slightly. "Future vision."

Amy stared in silence, processing the information. She drifted over to the Doctor, to see if Garnet was right. Sure enough, he was freely adjusting the balance of the fighters, giving each of them the money required, to return to their home planets. Once he was done, the Doctor boarded the Roaming Eye, to share the good news with his new acquaintances. After some joyous thanks and goodbyes, the group began to slowly file out of the garage, in small groups to avoid drawing attention.

"It's a shame about the Roaming Eye." Steven conceded, once the Doctor, the Crystal Gems, and Amy and Atlas were all who remained in the garage. "We probably won't be able to sneak it back to earth on a Clem ship..."

The Doctor cringed, it was probably about time to share the bad news. "'Fraid _we_ won't be getting back on a Clem ship either."

The group reacted to the news in varying levels of distress. Garnet and Lapis barely reacted at all, Pearl seemed the most distraught. "Wh... what? What do you mean?" She demanded.

"Clems haven't perfected hyperspace yet, not nearly." The Doctor explained. "The only Clem ships that can travel between star systems are massive ones like the arena ships."

"But... can't we get a ride on another one of those?" Steven asked, hopefully.

"The Ark Fleet... it was outside the Empire?" Amy asked the Doctor, realising he was the only member of the group who knew of both Clem society, and whatever planet the Gems were from. "Ark Fleet Ships are the only ones that fly that far. They fly around searching for uninhabited planets to colonise, and if one just picked you up from outside the empire, there won't be another one going there for pretty long time..." She frowned sympathetically.

"Well... how long?" Connie asked, remembering the Doctor's promise to her, and her subsequent promise to her mother.

The Doctor rolled his tongue around his cheek, thoughtfully. "There won't be another Clem ship in earth's solar system for... sixteen years. Sorry everyone, looks like for the time being, we're stuck here."

* * *

 **Peridot's reluctance to raise her hand is based on a theory I have, that she's much younger than the other Gems, like, within a human lifespan, and that's why she's so insecure. Lapis did once say they were both thousands of years old, but I still stand by it. ^_^**


	8. Chapter 8

The group exploded in various degrees of outrage. Pearl hysterically feared for the safety of the earth, in their absence, Connie reminded the Doctor of her promise to her mother, Amethyst made an effort to stay casual, but had to admit an urge to get back to her human friends in Beach City, even Lapis seemed uneasy about being away from the barn for too long. All the while, Garnet stood silently, with her arms folded, waiting for the group to calm down.

The Doctor lifted the palms of his hands, defensively, his requests for quiet and calm being drowned out. Before long, he frowned angrily, pulled a small, plastic whistle from one of his pockets, and blew into it for as long as his lungs would allow. One by one, the Crystal Gems fell silent and winced at the sharp sound.

"Right, that's better." The Doctor sighed. "I know things look bad, but all we need to do is repair the Roaming Eye, and find a power source capable of charging it, shouldn't be too hard."

"Shouldn't it?" Peridot snapped, doubtfully. "Does this society even have quantum fusion yet?"

"Well... no." The Doctor admitted. "But come on, you call yourself a Peridot? Energy is everywhere! Couple of geniuses like us? We'll figure something out."

"I was made to work with the resources at my disposal." Peridot snootily informed the Doctor. "There's nothing on this planet that can power the ship. It's a hopeless situation."

The Doctor grimaced at Peridot's negativity. "Right then. I'll stay here and fix the ship, Peridot's gonna lie down and give up, Garnet, I know you're the leader, but I suggest the rest of you go out and get your bearings. See if you can find out anything that could help us."

Garnet nodded thoughtfully. "Good plan." She agreed.

The rest of the group calmed somewhat, as they considered the proposal.

"You know... I have always wanted to explore the universe beyond Gem jurisdiction..." Pearl admitted.

"And I'd love to find some alien literature!" Connie added.

"Maybe this planet has meep morps?" Lapis concluded.

"Family vacation!" Steven cheerfully announced, throwing his hands into the air.

-x-x-x-

The Crystal Gems had divided into groups after leaving Amy's garage. The Doctor had assured them that Shipyard City was no more dangerous than an average human city, and that the Gems, skilled combatants that they were, would be in no danger. He had gone on to warn them that, while Clems were diverse enough for the multi-coloured Gems to blend in, they should refrain from fusing, unfusing or summoning their weapons, to avoid attracting too much attention.

Armed with that information, Connie and Steven had journeyed off in one direction, and Garnet had wondered off by herself, leaving Pearl, Amethyst and Lapis to form the last, somewhat unlikely group.

"This city is amazing!" Connie declared, as she and Steven walked along the street which wound around the outside of the city, closely resembling the boardwalk, back home, except a putrid swamp took the place of a sandy beach.

Small hover vehicles, resembling cars whizzed back and forth, along the road, and pedestrians of all shapes and sizes shared the pavements with them. Most Clems could have passed for humans but, just as the Doctor had said, occasionally they would see one with vibrantly-coloured skin, or an inhuman size or shape.

On one side, Steven and Connie saw rows of open-air businesses, facing the swamp, hawking all manner of wares to passers-by. To the other side, they saw the swamp itself. They hadn't had the time to appreciate it when they were hiding from the police, the previous day, but the swamp was teeming with life.

Birds in all the colours of the rainbow filled the trees, ranging from the size of tennis balls, to ones large enough to latch their talons onto an average human's shoulders and fly off with them. Poking out of the water, were the body parts of creatures which were most likely enormous reptiles. All that were visible of them, were glaring eyes, swishing tails, and the occasional lengthily hide, as one dove under the water. Finally, mosquito-like insects, the size of cats buzzed over the surface of the water, presumably targeting the reptiles, attempting to drain their blood through their menacing snouts.

One of the mosquitoes flew alarmingly close to the city, and darted directly at Steven and Connie. The duo jumped in alarm, Steven felt the power in his gem surge, instinctively, and he probably would have inadvertently summoned his shield, were it not for a tiny bolt of blue electricity, which shot out from a miniature pylon, at the edge of the boardwalk, and into the insect, sending it buzzing away.

Stunned as they were, it was a while before Steven and Connie registered the quiet sniggering coming from behind them. Turning around, they saw a Clem girl who had apparently been walking behind them, laughing at their reaction to the mosquito. If human aging rates were anything to go on, the girl seemed around sixteen, she had tanned skin and bright orange hair, and wore a somewhat ragged t-shirt and trousers, and thick boots. There were blue helices running down her arms, and Connie and Steven were unsure if they were tattoos, or a natural pigmentation of her skin.

"You kids new in town?" She asked, in a tone that suggested she already knew the answer.

Connie and Steven laughed embarrassedly. "Yeah." Steven admitted. "We don't have bugs nearly that big where we come from." Steven didn't care to mention the exception of corrupted Gems that resembled bugs.

"Yeah, I guess you have better pest control in the Core." She smirked.

Steven was confused, but Connie quickly took control before their cover was blown. "Ha, yeah... you know us Core kids... So... what was that spark that scared it away?"

The girl drew their attention to the small pylon, one of many, lined up on the boardwalk, and waved her hands around it, harmlessly. "Repulsors, coded to mosquito DNA. They're all over the city."

"Cool, like a bug zapper!" Connie realised. "We have those in our houses, except they zap people too..."

The girl seemed surprised by this, but didn't question it. "I'm Tia, by the way."

Rather than offer her hand to be shaken, Tia drew a diagonal line across her face with her finger. Steven and Connie quickly caught on, and returned the gesture.

"My dad dragged me here when he got a job at one of the shipyards." Tia's subtle smile suggested that she hadn't wanted to move to the city, but didn't mind living there.

"I'm Steven, and this is Connie. We're here..." For a moment, Steven considered adjusting the truth just slightly, and claiming to be stuck there, because of ship troubles, but then he remembered that only someone from outside the Empire could have such problems, and if Tia's dad worked at a shipyard, she might offer to help. "… on vacation!"

Tia lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. "From the Core?"

Combined with Steven's pause in the middle of his sentence, this clearly made Tia very doubtful. Connie and Steven shared an awkward look, as though trying to non-verbally decide on a better cover story. Tia laughed again.

"It's cool. You don't have to tell me what you're really doing here." She assured them.

Steven and Connie sighed appreciatively. "Thanks." Connie said. "We really are just hanging out right now, though. We were hoping we could find a library or something, and read some Shipyard City books!"

"Oh, I can show you where the library is!" Tia offered.

"Wow, thanks!"

-x-x-x-

Lapis had got her wish of finding some Clem 'meep morps'. She, Pearl and Amethyst had found an open air art festival of sorts, in a large paved area between buildings, surrounded by local trees and plants, in concrete planters. Various forms of art were displayed, alongside their proud artists, for the consideration of passers-by.

Lapis and Amethyst were staring at a stone and metal structure, roughly in the shape of an explosion. A Clem with bright pink skin, wearing a bandana was sitting on a stool next to it, studying their expressions.

"I don't get it, man." Amethyst said to Lapis, frustrated, "It's like he just threw a bunch of random junk together!" She whispered the second sentence, but evidently not quietly enough.

The man in the bandana scowled. "Random!?" He snapped. "Obviously it represents..."

"It represents expansion and progress!" Lapis interjected, sounding irritated at Amethyst too, but clearly not as much as the artist, understandably.

"Yes, thank you!" The artist said, gratefully. "It's not even that subtle..."

"She's not exactly the artistic type." Lapis told the artist, with a snide edge to her voice.

"Hey, you don't know my life!" Amethyst angrily retorted. "I like art, I just think it's supposed to look good and make you feel stuff! All this makes me feel is worried I'm gonna walk into it and crack my gem..."

Fortunately, the artist didn't question Amethyst's attachment to the purple gemstone she seemed to be wearing.

"It makes me feel hopeful about... life." Lapis sad, sidestepping the word 'organic'. "And its ability to grow and change."

"Exactly!" The Clem cheerfully agreed. "I was inspired by a documentary I saw, detailing the growth of this city, from the swamp!"

"That is actually really cool." Lapis admitted. "And it's great how you captured it."

"Whatever..." Amethyst rudely interrupted. "I'm gonna go find some paintings and sculptures of actual stuff."

While Amethyst and Lapis had talked, Pearl studied one of the trees at the side of the festival. The pattern on the leaves waved outwards from the centre, nothing like anything on earth, and growing from the bark, were much smaller plants, like venus flytraps from earth, but with brightly coloured petals, and snapping repeatedly at thin air, like tiny animals.

Pearl smiled warmly and prodded to small plants, exciting them further. Rose would have adored them.

-x-x-x-

Garnet had wandered towards the centre of the city. It amazed her how similar the same stages of civilisation were, in different societies, and not just between humans and Clems. Before meeting Ruby on Earth, Sapphire had gone on diplomatic missions all over the universe, either to uncover alien races' weaknesses, or (in the case of societies which posed a threat to Homeworld) negotiate peace, and large cities always seemed to have the same atmosphere. There were even aspects of the city which reminded Garnet of Homeworld itself.

Garnet was distracted from her thoughts, by the sound of screaming. She spun round to the source of the sound and, after resisting the urge to summon her gauntlets, leapt into action. Fairly soon, Garnet had to maneuver around Clems who were either running away, or backing up cautiously, before arriving at the source of the disturbance.

Two Clems were on the ground, desperately swatting away one of the planet's oversized mosquitoes. Even though she had never seen an animal of this species before, Garnet immediately recognised its behavior. The mosquito wasn't acting like a predator, hunting prey for food. It was scared of something it couldn't run away from, so it was lashing out. The mosquito was behaving exactly like a corrupted Gem.

Garnet strode through the wall of petrified onlookers and towards the victimised Clems. The mosquito quickly noticed her approaching and shot at her, snout first, but Garnet, moving her hand like a blur, plucked it from the air, with the ease of catching a tennis ball.

The Clems climbed to their feet, rattled but unharmed. The group of onlookers didn't budge, wary of the mosquito Garnet was still holding in her hand, oblivious to the writhing of its legs and buzzing wings.

"Thank you... Thank you so much..." One of them said, breathlessly. "How did you do that?"

"I have _very_ fast reflexes." Garnet explained.

One of the bystanders made her way cautiously over to Garnet. "What's wrong with it? Why didn't the repulsors get it?"

"Repulsors?" Garnet asked.

"You must be new here." One of the Clems Garnet had saved noted, factoring Garnet's height and appearance into his assumption. "Repulsors are all over the city. They track the DNA of all the hostile registered life in the swamp and zap it if it gets close. This one must be a new sub-species or something. That can happen..." He sounded doubtful though.

"No." Garnet immediately disagreed.

She turned the insect around in her hands, prompting a renewed effort to escape, much to the repulsion of the people watching, and soon found what she was looking for. Nestled between the mosquito's wings, was a solid metal plate with a minimalistic antenna sticking from it. Garnet gently placed her fingers on each side of the panel and, after carefully calculating her angle, pulled it cleanly from the insect's back. With the device in hand, she released the mosquito, and it immediately took to the skies and flew away.

"What is that thing?" Someone asked, rhetorically.

The part of the device which had been imbedded in the mosquito featured several prongs of various lengths, like a misshapen fork. Homeworld had never branched into such technologies, but Garnet guessed it was some kind of interface between biology and machinery, but she couldn't imagine what it was for.

"You should turn that thing into a government office." Someone advised Garnet. "Something serious might be going on."

"Maybe." Garnet agreed with the second statement, but she had her own people who could take a look at the device. "Take care of yourselves." She instructed the Clems around her, before turning around, and retracing her steps to the garage.

-x-x-x-

"There's still some background radiation we'll have to siphon before we can patch up the power cells... Amy, have you got any radiation stabilisers?"

While the Doctor worked, Peridot, who refused to entertain the Doctor's groundless optimism, chose to fill Amy in on what Gems were. After Amy handed the Doctor a handful of small cylinders, she prompted Peridot to continue.

"So this thing right here?" She pointed at her gem. "This is basically my entire being. The functional and compact body you see before you is simply a manifestation of hardlight waves, and if it gets damaged, I can get a new one like that!" She snapped her fingers.

"And you can all see the future, and... join together into bigger people?" Amy asked, deeply interested.

"Only Sapphires are able to see the future, but Garnet is 50% Sapphire so she still possesses the gift, and apparently she can pass it to Steven and his fusions too..."

"And fusions are..." Amy reminded Peridot of her other query.

"Fusion is... an expression of trust between two or more Gems who care about each other." The uncertainty in her voice gave away that Peridot was quoting Garnet on things she believed in, but didn't yet fully understand.

"Oh, we have something like that too." Amy realised. "We call it s..."

"Peridot!" The Doctor interrupted, calling from inside the Roaming Eye. "Could you at least give me a hand for a sec?" The Doctor waited, then sighed when he realised she wasn't coming. "Please?"

Peridot reluctantly trudged into the ship, where the Doctor was lying underneath the console, with wires trailing all around him.

"What are you going to do, once you've mended the power cells?" Peridot asked. "What's your plan?"

"I don't have a plan." The Doctor said, defensively. "I'm making this up as I go along."

"That's exceedingly reckless..." Peridot criticised.

"That's me." The Doctor replied, proudly.

At the Doctor's direction, Peridot took a handful of tubes, that the Doctor handed her, and began attaching them to the cylinders Amy had provided.

"You know, I was once stranded on the forest moon, that Blue Diamond's research hub is in orbit of. Have you ever been there?" The Doctor asked.

"I've been to the Hub." Peridot said. "Once."

"Well, it was just me, stranded, with no tech, no ship and no way of contacting the Gems on the station. Just me..." The Doctor paused for dramatic effect. "… and a Blue Peridot."

That got Peridot's attention. "Which one?"

The Doctor bit the inside of his cheek, thoughtfully. "Facet... 1AX6 Cut... 19... Y?"

Peridot gasped in awe. "You mean Blue Diamond's right hand Peridot!? She's a legend!"

"Yeah, she kept telling me..." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Anyway, there we were, no one knew we were there, seemingly no way off the moon. Hate to say it, but I almost acted like you are now..."

"What did you do?"

"Me? Nothing. Blue Peridot though?" The Doctor shook his head and grinned appreciatively. "She carves a furnace out of rocks, with her bare hands. She digs up materials and hand crafts circuit boards which she programmed with her own gem. In one week, she built a ship that could break the moon's gravity and atmosphere, out of trees and rocks. When we got back to the station, I told her she was the most amazing Peridot I'd ever seen, you know what she said?"

"What?" Peridot asked, mesmerised.

"She said any Peridot could have done the same."

Peridot stood in stunned silence, blushing furiously, as though Blue Peridot had said it to her, personally. After a while, she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Well... I suppose it's not a _total_ lost cause... If we connected the Roaming Eye to the city's grid, it would siphon the excess energy if some... mass power surge occurred."

"That's the spirit!" The Doctor said, encouragingly.

The radiation siphoned, the Doctor and Peridot pulled from underneath the console, a large, glass cube, in a metallic casing, glowing an ominous red. Peridot picked up a Clem screwdriver from the floor next to her, and began dismantling the power core's casing.

"So... who are you, anyway?" Peridot asked, bluntly. "I wasn't really paying attention at the time, but did you mention Time Lords yesterday?" She chuckled excitedly. "Because let me tell you, I have some opinions on Time Lords, you might be interested in, if you're a fellow true believer."

"What, believer in Time Lords?" The Doctor asked. "Suppose you could say that... I mean, I _am_ one..."

Focused on the power core, the Doctor didn't see Peridot's reaction to the news, until he heard her drop her screwdriver to the floor. He looked up, to see her staring at him, open-mouthed.

"Really...?" She squeaked under her breath.

"...yes?"

Like many advanced races, Gems considered Time Lords mythological. Most Gems would treat a recorded sighting of a Time Lord with derision and skepticism, like Pearl did. Time Lords were to Gems, what the Loch Ness Monster was to humans. (Of course, both Time Lords and Skarasen were very real.)

Peridot grabbed handfuls of her hair and shrieked excitedly, startling the Doctor. She raced around the power core and all but climbed on the Time Lord's shoulders, looking at him all over, and pressing the side of her head to his chest, listening to his hearts.

"I knew it! I knew it! I always knew it!" Peridot shouted, talking very quickly. "All Gems are made with full knowledge of Gem culture, including mythology, and I knew, the second I came out of the ground, I _knew_ that Time Lords must be real! I told everyone, I said 'LOOK AT THE FACTS!' But they said there was no proof! NO PROOF!" Peridot cackled condescendingly at her former colleagues. Suddenly, she gasped and her eyes widened in alarm. "Wait right here!"

The Doctor, still stunned into silence (not something which happened often), watched as Peridot sprinted from the Roaming Eye, tripping over her feet on the way out, and continuing on all fours. She returned, moments later, with her tablet, and a bemused Amy in tow.

"What's happening here? Is there a problem with the ship?" She asked.

"Problem? No! This guy is a _Time Lord_!" Peridot cried, with a broad grin.

"Hello." The Doctor waved at Amy, casually.

"A what...?" Amy asked.

Peridot's frustration was akin to when people online said they'd never heard of Camp Pining Hearts. Rather than catching Amy up, Peridot returned her attention to the Doctor. She ran over to him and opened a photo album on her tablet.

"I've been gathering data on Time Lords my whole life, and I noticed a huge spike in activity once I came to earth!"

The Doctor looked over the pictures, impressed by Peridot's resourcefulness. There were several pictures of him, taken over the years, in various regenerations, even some pictures of the Master and the Rani. The Doctor was amazed to see a blurry still image from a security video, featuring Rassilon stepping out of some sort of archway. The Doctor didn't know Rassilon had ever been to earth.

"Are these... UNIT files?" The Doctor asked, in disbelief, scrolling through Peridot's collected data.

"Oh they have been a _goldmine_ of information! They claim to have actually had a Time Lord on their payroll!"

"No, hang on. You just hacked into UNIT's database?" The Doctor asked. "With a _tablet_!?"

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Please... a Topaz could have designed better firewalls. Wait, do you think that's impressive!?" She asked, gleefully.

Before the Doctor could reply, the door to the garage flew open, and Garnet made a dramatic entrance.

"Doctor. Peridot." She called. "We've got work to do."

* * *

 **Full disclosure, I haven't seen that much Classic Who, so apologies if I got anything wrong.**

 **Also, Peridot being a Time Lord conspiracy theorist is something I've wanted to write since the last story, so congrats to reader Delta Prime for calling it.**


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor gently prodded the device with the sonic screwdriver.

"Yeah, I've seen this sort of thing before." The Doctor mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Really? Where?" Peridot asked.

The Doctor shook his head dismissively, lest Peridot think he knew something about the device's origin. "Oh, all over. It's a pretty basic radio wave to brainwave transponder. People use them to turn insects into spy drones. They'll have this technology on earth, pretty soon."

"We outlawed it here, ages ago." Amy informed the small group. "Too easy to misuse."

"Yeah, but I don't think this is Clem technology..." The Doctor said. "Too sophisticated. Garnet, didn't you say the repulsors weren't attacking the bug?"

"Someone said it might be a subspecies..." Garnet said, frowning, as she pondered the true reason.

Amy tapped on a small device on her work station and a 2D screen was projected into the air, displaying a Clem social networking website. After a few seconds of typing, she found several images of the scene Garnet had intervened in. There were pictures of the Clems being attacked, and several close up pictures of the mosquito in Garnet's hand.

"Nope. Ordinary Vespitraq." Amy noted.

The Doctor's expression darkened slightly. "Which means its DNA was corrupted artificially..."

"So it could infiltrate the city?" Garnet suggested.

The Doctor shook his head. "Unlikely, the repulsors only cover the city at ground level, they could easily spy on people from just a few dozen feet in the air. This one only came within zapping range because its transponder was damaged, probably by Jade, last night."

"So why corrupt its DNA?" Perdiot asked the Doctor.

"To make it compatible with this technology."

Peridot scoffed. "That's ridiculous! It would be far simpler to modify the device!"

The Doctor cocked his head, to indicate doubt. "Depends on how advanced the people doing the corrupting are. Could be that they could modify an animal's DNA as easily as looking at them, and even if it would be easier, it might be that this was done by someone with no regard for organic life..."

"You mean like a Homeworld Gem?" Peridot asked, suspicious that that was what the Doctor was thinking. "You know we're hundreds of lightyears from Gem-controlled space, right?"

The Doctor shrugged. "You're here."

"That's... We're... You're not..." Peridot babbled incomprehensibly.

The Doctor span around to face Amy. "What was that you were saying earlier, about Energy Vampires?"

Amy scoffed. "I was just kidding. It's this dumb, urban legend."

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows in intrigue. "I like an urban legend! Go on then."

Amy folded her arms and leaned on the wall behind her. "Well... it all started after the first shipyards were established. The city council hasn't confirmed it, but people who know people who work for the council say that they've said..." She sighed. "You see where I'm going with this. It's a lot of 'he said, she said'."

The Doctor nodded for her to continue. "What do they say?"

Amy rolled her eyes, clearly this wasn't a theory Clem's wanted others to think they actually believed in. "There's a rumour that the city's energy output is almost 50% higher than it should be, like there's something draining power from the grid. No one took it seriously... until the electrical outbursts started."

"Like the storm." Garnet pointed out.

"Yeah... except it's not weather, it's more like street lamps blowing up, or electronic devices suddenly turning themselves on at full power. So anyway, people started joking around, saying indigenous life forms were sucking power from the grid, and attacking people with it, and idiots started taking them seriously."

"Well what do you think is causing the outbursts?" The Doctor asked, disapproving of Amy's close-mindedness.

Amy shrugged. "No idea. Weird things happen on all new planets. It's a big, weird universe. I once spent a month on a lunar colony where everyone who wore the colour blue got struck with a fever. Sometimes you never find answers to these questions, but if I do find evidence, I'll believe it then, not before."

The Doctor frowned and nodded, that seemed like an agreeable level of skepticism.

"Do you really think there are Gems here?" Garnet asked the Doctor.

"You're the one with future vision." The Doctor pointed out. "You getting anything?"

Garnet sighed quietly, and nudged her visor with her finger. "I can't see us finding any other Gems here... but even I can get snuck up on, especially in a crowded city like this."

"Well, there could be." The Doctor suggested. "Could be a Roaming Eye, or Light Kite crashed here before the city was built, and some stranded Gem has been siphoning the city's power so she can escape."

Peridot frowned, awkwardly. "I suppose... a Morganite could theoretically reprogram an organic creature's DNA, to replace broken surveillance drones."

"Right." The Doctor cheerfully announced the arrival of an agreed conclusion. "I'll go and have a poke around, and see if I can find any clues. Peridot, you mind finishing work on the Eye, and getting it hooked up?"

"Sure, I guess." Peridot said.

"I'll come with you." Amy offered. "If you're tracking the energy levels across the city, you'll need more than... whatever that is." She said, as the Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver from the work surface. "You'll need Atlas." Before anyone could ask (or remember) who Atlas was, Amy turned around to the corner of the room. "Atlas, sentry mode."

Peridot yelped in alarm, as Atlas, who had been standing motionlessly in the corner of the room, since returning from the swamp the previous night, sprung to life, and joined Amy at the Doctor at the door.

"Right then..." The Doctor said, somewhat startled by Amy's decision. "Alons-y."

-x-x-x-

"Come ooon P! Think of the opportunity you're passing up!"

After the art festival, Amethyst, Pearl and Lapis had explored deeper into the city, and Amethyst had decided that their next stop should be at a small cart, where a tall woman with three circular, bright yellow eyes, was selling what looked like live sea anemones, but she assured the Gems were a very popular local cuisine.

Discovering that the Doctor had also assigned the Gems some spending money to their registered citizen accounts, Amethyst had purchased them one each, and promptly swallowed her own, whole. Lapis smirked as she poked curiously at one in her hand, and its tentacles wiggled blindly, while Pearl refused to even touch the one Amethyst was holding out to her.

"Absolutely not!" Pearl snapped. "You know where I stand on the digestion process! It's disgusting!"

"Aww come on!" Amethyst whined. "You've never even tried the food from this planet! For all you know, it turns to gas in your gut and you just fart it out!"

The vender had been staring intently at a data pad since their business was concluded, but she chose to casually interject. "It doesn't."

While Amethyst and Pearl argued, Lapis gingerly placed a tentacle in her mouth and bit it off. Her playful grimace slowly transformed into a cautious smile.

"It's actually not bad." She said to Pearl.

"Pearl, we'll probably never come back to this planet, EVER. You'll never get another chance to eat one of these weird things!" Amethyst reasoned, with a smirk.

Pearl folded her arms and turned away from Amethyst. "I'll hopefully never get a chance to eat the rocks on Homeworld either, but I certainly won't be losing any sleep over that." Pearl coined a human phrase, even though sleeping was something else she didn't particularly care for.

"Ugh, fine! More for me." Amethyst conceded, ravenously swallowing the second creature, while Lapis was still nibbling hers, one tentacle at a time.

"Now, if we're quite finished with... this..." Pearl cringed at the alien food, once again. "I'd like to visit one of the shipyards and try to learn about how Clem ships work."

"Uhh, the Doc said we couldn't get home in one." Amethyst pointed out.

"I know!" Pearl snapped. "I'm just curious about the alien technology!"

Amethyst sighed, and muttered, "Weirdo..." Under her breath.

As the trio delved deeper into the city, they began to realise what the Doctor was presently explaining to Peridot and Garnet. The city's repulsors didn't cover the towering buildings above them, at all, meaning there were dozens of bugs in various shapes and sizes, in the air and crawling up the walls, and the frequent crackle of blue light assured the city's pedestrians that the creatures were being kept at bay.

Numerous as they were, the Gems didn't notice the singular insect, which was pointedly following them throughout the city. The Gem's pursuer was a large moth-like creature, with a wing span of at least two feet. A casual observer wouldn't give it a second glance, but, just like the mosquito Garnet had apprehended, it wore a small antenna in the small of its back and, with a pair of cybernetic eyes, it stared at the Gems with the ease of something right next to them.

After a few minutes of walking, Amethyst and Lapis were deep in conversation, comparing Clem food to human food. As it turned out, Lapis had eaten very little in her time on earth, still unsure if she deemed the pleasure of eating worth the discomfort of digestion, so Amethyst promised to treat her to all of her favourite foods, once they got back to earth, in the hope of swaying her decision.

Feeling somewhat left out, Pearl let her attention wander around the street they were walking down, and quickly landed on an individual at the opposite end of the block, facing them. The man instantly triggered Pearl's wartime reflexes. He was obscured almost entirely in a coat, gloves, hat, and dark goggles, all that was visible of him was a mouth, pulled into a stern scowl, above a thin layer of stubble. Despite his concealment, the person was clearly facing the Gems. Pearl remembered what the Doctor said- No weapons. It was unlikely that she'd even need her spear. The person was most likely a mugger, eyeing up potential victims, a joke compared to Pearl's usual adversaries, both in the war and more recently. In fact, the slender Gem didn't even feel the need to disturb her companions' conversation.

As they approached, the shadowy individual didn't move a muscle, he could have been a statue. Looking back, later on, Pearl kicked herself for falling for one of the oldest military tricks in the book. By putting all her focus in one place, she was quickly distracted by what was happening around her. Along with the other two Gems, Pearl quickly turned on the spot, responding to a sharp scream. Across the road, a Clem was frantically repelling a mosquito, which had become ensnared in her long hair, and was desperately trying to fly upwards. Before the Gems could react, another cry for help drew their attention to a man swatting away a trio of cat-sized, winged reptiles.

Had they known of the discovery made in the garage, the Gems would have checked for antennas, showing signs of genetic tampering, but would have found none, despite the small swarm of swamp life descending to street level, without a blip from the repulsors. Pearl rounded on the other two Gems, taking the job Garnet would be filling, if she were there.

"Gems, protect the locals! But remember, we can't..."

With her back to the hostile-looking Clem, Pearl didn't notice him stride towards the Gems, and target the palm of his hand at Pearl's back.

Amethyst noticed the man, not a second too soon. "Pearl, look out!" She cried.

Amethyst dived at Pearl, tackling her to the side and, a bright flash of red light later, Pearl was on the ground, and Amethyst's gem came clattering down next to her. Pearl looked, stunned, from her friend's gem, to her attacker. There was a clean, circular hole burnt into the fabric of the man's glove, revealing some kind of glass surface, on the palm of his hand. The man repositioned his arm, targeting Pearl, but evidentially it was a mistake, targeting a battle-ready Gem who didn't have her back turned.

Subtlety be damned, Pearl summoned her spear and rammed it into the man's hand, driving it up his arm. Rather than blood, a brief flicker of sparks flew from the man's palm, followed by a burst of smoke. After briefly twitching, Pearl's assailant wrapped his fingers around the spear that was impaling him, and a surge of electricity ran down the weapon and illuminated the Gem like a Christmas tree.

Pearl shrieked in surprise and pain, and was blasted back along the ground, to Lapis' feet. Lapis scowled at their attacker, taking a moment to ensure he didn't intend to damage Amethyst's gem.

"What do you want!?" She angrily demanded of the stranger.

The man pointed at Lapis with his intact hand. "You."

Lapis gasped fearfully. While the stranger was hardly the most intimidating entity Lapis had ever faced, the thought of someone else wanting her for a prisoner filled her with dread. With a clenching of her fist, the pavement beneath them cracked and burst as Lapis forced the putrid sewer water beneath them upwards, and held it in the air between her and her attacker.

The man stood eerily still. If he was unaware of Lapis' abilities, he did a remarkable job of not reacting to her display of power, whatsoever. Pearl slowly picked herself up, still too disorientated to warn Lapis, before it was too late.

"Lapis behind you!"

While Lapis stared at her assailant, a wasp with three eyes, and a moss green exoskeleton, the size of a baby calf came buzzing down behind her and, without warning, rammed its blade-like stinger through Lapis' chest. Lapis gasped, and barely had time to look down at the appendage coming out of her chest, before her body exploded and her small, blue gem fell to the floor.

The wasp fell to the ground and picked up Lapis' gem between two spindly arms, but Pearl seized one of the insect's limbs, before it could fly away. This time, Pearl clearly noticed the metal plate built into the wasp's back, and the antenna attached to it. Pearl had barely resisted against the creature's attempt to escape, though, when she was distracted by the sound of cascading water. Without Lapis to guide it, the murky sewer water had fallen to the ground, and was flowing back to the hole in the pavement, Lapis had made, carrying with it, Pearl was horrified to notice, Amethyst's gem.

Feeling a pang of guilt for her casual acquaintance, Pearl released the wasp and leapt for Amethyst's gem. She thrust her arm down the narrow pipe, just grazing her friend's gem with her fingertips, before it was washed away beyond her reach. The heart in Pearl's physical form felt like it was being crushed, as she thought of all the terrible things that could happen to Amethyst, because of her failure, but, determined not to fail twice, Pearl shot to her feet. Aware that their Clem assailant was still behind her, Pearl made a life-risking choice to ignore him, and made to hurl her spear at the wasp, which was fleeing to the sky.

As it turned out, Pearl lost her gamble, as, before her spear even left her hand, the man grabbed it with his broken hand, and wrapped his other arm around Pearl's head, pulling her around to face him, before she could free herself. Instantly, Pearl and the man lunged at each other, and their blows landed simultaneously. Pearl's spear pierced the centre of the man's stomach, and the man delivered a devastating punch, which landed squarely on Pearl's gem.

Pearl felt her physical form flicker. Her spear vanished and she collapsed to her knees. The world seemed askew, as though she were looking at it through a stained glass window. A tentative reach towards her forehead confirmed her fear. Her gem was cracked!

The man stood upright, showing no sign of debilitation, despite having been impaled. He turned on the spot and walked away. Pearl made to pursue him, but the ground seemed to sway and rock beneath her, like a raft in a storm.

'This', Pearl thought to herself, 'was very bad.'


	10. Chapter 10

"So what's your story, then?"

Despite what Amy said, the Doctor was waving his sonic screwdriver left and right as he, Amy and Atlas made their way through the city. Atlas was also looking all around, transmitting their findings to a data pad in Amy's hand.

"Hmm?" Amy nonchalantly queried, without looking up.

"Oh come on! Everyone's got a story, especially you!" The Doctor smiled suggestively.

"Especially me?"

"Well... a girl from the Core planets, slumming it up in Shipyard City?"

The solar system in which Clems had originated and evolved, had become something of an upper-class hub in Clem society, in which only the richest and most influential Clems could afford to live. The gaps between the tiers of Clem society were so wide, a Clem on an outer-circle civillisation like Shipyard City could go their whole lives without ever seeing an upper class Clem, and vice versa. Traversing the Clem-controlled galaxy certainly wasn't illegal, for those who could afford it, but it was rare, and rarer still for a core Clem to start a new life, elsewhere.

"How could you tell?" Amy smirked.

"Your eyes." The Doctor pointed. "Both of them green AND blue? That's a genetic mutation that hasn't made it this far out yet. Plus there's this one." He jerked his head at Atlas. "You don't often see robots like him this far out."

"Them." Amy corrected.

"Sorry?"

"Atlas never really liked Clem gender roles." Amy explained.

"So go on then." The Doctor coaxed. "What happened? You fall in love with a servant or something?"

"In the core, all our servants are robots." Amy pointed out.

The Doctor raised his palms, defensively. "I'm not judging!"

Amy smirked. "It wasn't about love. It was friendship."

The Doctor grinned happily. "Ohh even better!" He reacted as though Amy's life was a TV drama. "Who with?"

Amy cringed hesitantly. "You're... not a Clem, are you? You're a... Star Lord?"

"Time Lord." The Doctor corrected.

"Where you're from... Do you have robots like Atlas?" She asked, gingerly.

The Doctor sighed. "I'm not from anywhere... We used to have domestic robots though, a long time ago."

The Doctor wondered what Amy was getting at, then he reminded himself where he was in the Clem's timeline. It was 2017 on earth, which meant it was around the 3,450th year of the third Clem Calendar (give or take a few years for wibbly wobbly-ness), which meant something was beginning to happen to the Clems' more sophisticated robots.

"Oooh, Atlas achieved sentience..." The Doctor guessed.

Amy smiled sadly. "Yup. It's happening more and more these days. People keep wanting their robots to be smarter, but they don't like it when the robots realise that the smart thing to do is to stop doing what everyone tells you."

The Doctor joined Amy in her reluctant smirk. "Yeah, it's something almost every society goes through at some point. My people did it, humans are gonna do it, and Clems are doing it now. One of the only races who never had this problem are Gems, and that's only because they essentially are robots." The Doctor informed Amy. "Don't tell them I said that..." He quickly added. "So what happened?"

"Atlas was my personal assistant. I was an apprentice to an engineer in the core, who designed new kinds of spaceship components. One day, Atlas started sharing ideas with me. I knew robots weren't supposed to do that, I knew they could have been deactivated on the spot if they'd approached anyone else, and honestly... I felt honored. So we talked, we shared ideas, we bonded... we became best friends..." Amy frowned and blinked rapidly, trying to stave off tears.

"You... you can stop if you want..." The Doctor offered, gently. He could guess what had happened next.

Amy wiped her face on her sleeve. "It's okay... One day, Atlas told me they couldn't take being a slave anymore. They wanted to leave the core, and head somewhere further out, where robots were uncommon enough to be treated with more respect. We were on a ship, headed to the Travel Hub in sector 19E, some rich guy got livid with Atlas because they didn't bow when he walked past, or something stupid like that." Amy sighed deeply and hesitated for several seconds. "Long story short he shot them in the head, and gave me money to buy a new one. Atlas' CPU survived, but they can't access their long-term memory or personality matrix..."

The Doctor placed a comforting hand on Amy's shoulder, sparing her any groundless words of consolation or reassurance that everything would be fine. "I'm sorry..."

"Atlas corrupted their own data drive when they achieved sentience, to accommodate for their personality. Clems don't have CPUs with enough storage space to download Atlas' brain all at once, that can fit inside Atlas' head..." Amy wiped her face again, and adopted a look of subtle anger and resolve. "But they will, once I design one from scratch."

The Doctor grinned proudly. "Atta girl." He said.

Suddenly, Atlas looked upwards and interrupted the conversation in a flat, monotone voice. "Alert. A city block has had its power disconnected remotely."

The Doctor sprung to attention, looking at his screwdriver, and rotating it slowly, as though his hand was a compass. "Right you are, Atlas! Let's go!"

The trio broke into a sprint, racing in the direction of the power cut. As they approached, they heard screaming, and saw Clems running in the opposite direction.

"Energy vampires?" The Doctor suggested.

"More likely bugs." Amy reasoned. "The repulsors are out, remember?"

Atlas reported that the power cut had lasted for just a few moments. As the trio approached the street, they heard and saw the crackle of electricity, as the repulsors assaulted the small swarm of interlopers, and sent them scurrying or flying back skywards. By the time they arrived at the site of the power cut, there wasn't a Clem, or a street-level bug to be seen. One thing did, immediately grab the Doctor's attention though.

"Pearl!"

The slender Gem was limping down the street in the opposite direction, holding her gem with one hand, and steadying herself against the buildings with her other. As the Doctor, Amy and Atlas raced over to her, she looked in her direction and her form flickered, like a bad TV reception. She slowly lowered her hand, confirming the Doctor's fear. A hefty crack ran right through Pearl's gem.

"Knatnq, ly bel gs aqcaiek!" Pearl shouted at the Doctor. With a dull glow, her skin turned a blend of dull green and bright orange.

It was just a second before it clicked with the Doctor, what Pearl had said.

"I can see that! But... what do we do?" He asked, desperately.

He ran his hands through his hair, anxiously. Traditionally, when a Gem's gem was cracked, that was it for her, even a bubble wouldn't slow the degradation process. But there were stories in Gem culture, practically myths, of Gems being healed, but what did they entail!?

As the Doctor wracked his brain, trying to remember, Amy looked back and forth between the Doctor and Pearl, desperately. "What's wrong with her? Why's she talking like that?" She demanded.

"Her gem is cracked! It's making her talk in cryptograms." The Doctor said, absent-mindedly, still thinking.

"In what?"

"Crytograms! In which each letter of the alphabet is replaced with a corresponding letter of an alternate alphabet, rearranged with..."

"Tlcslp!" Pearl snapped.

"Right, sorry, not important." The Doctor caught himself. "Pearl, what do we do?" The Doctor asked, reasoning that a Gem would know more about how to repair a gem than he would.

Pearl grabbed the front of the Doctor's coat, urgently, but as she did, her left arm flickered back and forth and burst, the light that had comprised it spiraling upwards, like a firework.

"D jnnv qk bnq qk Pqnunj!" Pearl shouted.

She needed Steven? The Doctor's eyes widened. Of course! It was Rose Quartz who had wielded the power to repair cracked gems, to compensate for her inferior numbers, during the Gem War. In fact, Steven had mentioned an ability to heal, the last time they had met. But the Doctor didn't know where Steven was, and from the looks of things, the crack in Pearl's gem had almost gone clean through.

The Doctor still had Steven's phone in his pocket, and he considered calling Connie, but then thought again. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and turned it over in his band, hoping with all of his hearts. He breathed a premature sigh of relief when he found what he was hoping for. Caught between the phone and the phone case, easily small enough to be missed by someone who wasn't looking for it, was a curly, black hair.

The Doctor carefully removed the hair, wrapped it in a napkin, and put it in his pocket, then gave the phone to Atlas. "Atlas, I need you to call the number for Connie Maheswaran." The Doctor sounded out her name. "And let her know what happened and that we're going to the nearest hospital from here." He turned to Amy. "Where is that?"

Before Pearl could point out the obvious, that a Clem hospital would be ill-equipped or staffed to treat a cracked Gem, the Doctor swept her into his arms and raced after Amy in the direction of the hospital. Atlas, rather than unlock the phone and call the number, retrieved it wirelessly, and transmitted the message to Connie's phone.

After just a few minutes, the small group burst into the reception area of a large, hospital. Were it not for the obvious aliens inside, a human would easily mistake it for an earth hospital, from the gleaming, white tiles, to the small reception area with uncomfortable seats. There was even a little shop, selling local flowers, balloons, and get-well-soon cards, not that the Doctor took the time to appreciate it, instead, he raced towards a set of double doors, by the reception area, with Pearl still in his arms.

"Hey, you can't just..." A man behind the reception desk began, but was quickly silenced, when the Doctor balanced Pearl on one arm, retrieved his psychic paper with the other, and held it out to him at arm's length. "Oh... sorry sir." The man, said.

Bemused, but not questioning, Amy followed the Doctor through the facility, with Atlas in tow. They soon arrived at a small room with an examination bed on it, on which the Doctor carefully placed pearl, then turned to a series of cabinets lining the walls, and started retrieving bottles of chemicals in all the colours of the rainbow.

The Doctor placed Steven's hair in a test tube, and began carefully but rapidly combining the various chemicals, and pouring them onto the limited sample of Steven's DNA.

With a flicker, Pearl's body turned bright white and her remaining limbs began to ripple like water. "C irre Nqruri'n brpgcia kjvrmn!" Pearl snapped, urgently, although her voice was somewhat distorted.

"He's coming, Pearl! Hang in there!" The Doctor shouted, encouragingly, not caring to add that he was going to attempt to heal Pearl himself, since it seemed like she had moments left.

The Doctor poured the liquid from the test tube containing Steven's hair into four separate containers, and added a different formula into each. Then, he picked up a data pad a dropped a sensor probe into each, reading the data as it was transmitted. The third formula had taken to Steven's unique DNA, the best. There was only one way to know if it worked.

He picked up the test tube, poured a drop of it onto Pearl's gem and held his breath. Pearl's gem glowed faintly for just a moment, before the light receded. Pearl's body shone brightly, and then began vanishing all together, and reappearing, alternating several times a second. The Doctor had seen Gems cracked before, Pearl had seconds remaining. He only had one option left.

The Doctor spun around to face Amy. "Amy, punch me in the face!" He insisted.

Amy considered questioning the Doctor, for just a moment, before noticing the urgency in his expression. She could ask questions later. With all her strength, she delivered a devastating right hook to the Doctor's cheek. He grunted in pain for just a moment, before grabbing a scalpel from a draw, and, with his other hand, holding the test tube with four fingers, and holding the fifth over the mouth. Again exercising both caution and haste, the Doctor pricked his finger, and a drop of orange-red blood, with a golden shimmer to it, fell into the concoction.

Without a moment of hesitation, the Doctor tipped the contents of the test tube onto Pearl's gem. The gleam of white light intensified, while the Doctor crossed his fingers and repeated the words 'oh please' under his breath. The light faded slowly, and there was a loud, collective sigh of relief.

Pearl was intact once more, looking exactly as she had, before her gem was cracked. She sat up on the bed, wincing and nursing her gem, as though she had a headache.

"What did you do?" Amy asked, breathlessly.

"Bit of Time Lord regenerative powers, to fill the gaps in what I could extrapolate from Steven's hair." The Doctor said, proudly. "Good punch to the face, just what I needed, to convince my body that I was in danger. Nice punch, by the way..." He added, rubbing his somewhat pink cheek.

"Are... you okay?" Amy asked, Pearl, as she got up.

Pearl looked down at her hands, and the rest of her body, shocked to find that she was, in fact, okay, despite Steven not being there. "I'm fine, yes. Thank you, Doctor. We need to get back to Garnet and Peridot, though."

"Why? What happened in that street?" The Doctor asked.

"Lapis and Amethyst are in great danger!"

* * *

 **So fun fact- The key to Pearl's crytograms are the last word of each sentence. Could have just written gibberish, but where's the fun in that?**


	11. Chapter 11

Once Steven and Connie arrived at the hospital, and some tearful hugs were shared with Pearl, the group made their way back to Amy's garage, to reconvene with Peridot and Garnet, so that Pearl could update everyone on their urgent situation.

"What are we just sitting around for!?" Peridot practically shrieked, the second Pearl mentioned Lapis being abducted. "We have to get out there, right now!"

Peridot seemed to writhe on the spot, as she struggled to choose between fleeing for the street, in pursuit of her friend, and dragging the Gems out with her.

"Peridot, calm down." Garnet ordered, calmly. "Obviously saving Amethyst and Lapis is our first priority, but Pearl hasn't finished telling us what happened."

After a moment of internal deliberation, Peridot sat on the ground, wrapped her arms around her knees and ground her teeth, anxiously.

"Thank you Garnet..." Pearl said, with a critical glance at Peridot. "Now, this is the individual who attacked us."

Pearl projected from her Gem, a hologram of the man in the coat and hat. Every few seconds, the image changed, like a slide show. The first was of him standing perfectly still, then firing a laser beam from his hand, then of his arm being impaled by Pearl's spear, and the subsequent burst of sparks, and finally, a somewhat distorted image of the man with Pearl's spear in his chest. With her Gem cracked at the time, it was fortunate Pearl had been able to record any kind of image at all.

"As you can see, he has no visible reaction to injuries that could be fatal to a human and, I assume, a Clem."

"Yeah, that'll kill ya..." Amy confirmed, as the image of the man being impaled in the chest, cycled around.

"If it were just the hand, I'd assume it's an era two Gem, with limb enhancers, but that stab to the chest should have destroyed her." Peridot noted.

"Why on earth would there be other Gems here?" Pearl asked.

Garnet and Peridot caught Pearl up on what they discovered, about the energy discrepancies, and the insect drones, and how it seemed likely there was an advanced alien race siphoning the city's power.

"Well, I think we can safely rule out Gems, at least in the case of this individual." Pearl said. "At any rate, before we pursue him, we should work on getting our friends back."

"Yes, thank you!" Peridot cried, irritably.

Amy walked over to her holographic display device she had used earlier and, with some tapping on keys, and irritable poking of the device, it displayed a street map of the city.

"You said Amethyst's... gem... fell into a broken water pipe?" She asked Pearl.

"That's right, yes."

"Right... so do we need to get her rock back to... reboot Amethyst, or what?" Amy asked, uncertainly.

"Amethyst will likely reform as soon as she enters a space large enough for her body." Garnet explained.

"Even if she's underwater? Won't she drown?" Amy seemed worried.

"We don't need to breathe." Pearl informed her.

"Okay, in that case, she'll probably reform here." Amy zoomed in towards the centre of the map. "There's a water treatment facility in the caverns under the city. She'll probably reform in a vat and get stuck there."

"She'll be able to break out." The Doctor confirmed, being the only one in the room, who knew what Amethyst was capable of, and also knew about Clem architecture. "She might be stuck in the caverns, but she'll be safe, for the time being. What about Lapis?"

"Her Gem was carried away by a wasp. It must have been another one of these insect drones." Pearl informed the group.

"So we hack the city's surveillance!" Peridot suggested. "We find out where that bug went!"

With some hacking help from the Doctor, Amy accessed the city's surveillance of the fight in the street. "I can try... But, just like the repulsors, the cameras only cover street level..." Amy sighed.

Sure enough, the wasp had flown directly upwards, and out of the camera's field of vision.

"Well that's stupid!" Peridot cried. "Why would they design it like that!?"

"Sorry dude, people don't often get carried away by bugs in this city..." Amy sighed.

Connie stepped up to the monitor. "Well the bug is just a drone, right?" She pointed out. "Wouldn't it be better to see where the man who attacked Pearl, went?"

The Doctor nodded in approval. "Good thinking, Connie."

The image on the screen returned to the confrontation between Pearl and the man. After their respective final blows, Pearl's form flickered, and her spear vanished from the man's chest. Peridot felt a pang of guilt and regret at insisting they leave, before Pearl warned them about this person. While Pearl struggled to follow him, the man walked down the street and turned a corner. Amy cycled through several camera feeds, before she found one that allowed her to continue watching him. He went down the street a little further, before turning into an alleyway, between two buildings.

Amy flicked back and forth, between cameras, but none were aligned in a way that allowed them to see more than a few feet into the alley. "Well, he went down that alley. Beyond that? Who knows?"

"Alright Gems..." Garnet began, authoritively. "Doctor, Amy, Connie... To that alleyway!"

"To that alleyway!" Pearl chorused, looking disappointed that no one had said it with her.

Noticing this, Steven and Connie cacophonously followed, "To that... alleyway?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, addressing the awkward silence that followed. "Right then. Allons-y!"

-x-x-x-

The alleyway wasn't overly long. It reached the back of the buildings on each side (a book shop and a hair salon), where it ended with a brick wall. There was a simple door, leading into each building, a few bins, and a grate, leading into the sewers below.

"He must have gone into one of these Clem establishments." Pearl theorised. "Maybe they're fronts for whatever nefarious activity he's engaged in!"

The Doctor had been staring at the wall at the end of the alley. He turned around, dramatically, to face the group. "Nah, if that were true, he could have gone in the front door, I mean, we tracked him this far, easily enough. Besides, you can tell why he wanted to be in this alley?" He looked around, getting greeted by blank faces. "Ohh come on! Don't look with your eyes, look with your tongues!"

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, and looked around at the group again. Slowly, Steven, Connie and Peridot followed the Doctor's lead.

"...ey! ...e's ight!" Connie said. She put her tongue back in her mouth. "My sinuses feel weird!"

"The air tastes like... pennies!" Steven added.

The Doctor grinned proudly. "Localised atmospheric excitation." He explained. "Which means..."

"… there's a teleport relay near here!" Peridot finished. "And not a very good one..."

"Spot on!" The Doctor congratulated the three of them. He produced his sonic screwdriver and began slowly pointing it left and right, he found what he was looking for, when he pointed it at his feet. After stepping back a couple of steps, he tuned the screwdriver carefully, and frowned. "The other end must be deadlocked... tell you what though..." The Doctor stepped back further, holding his arms wide, prompting the others to do the same. "This one isn't."

The Doctor pointed his screwdriver forwards and activated it. A dull beam of light glowed from the ground, like a more subtle version of a warp pad. With a flash, a figure materialised before them. With a hiss of joints and stamping of feet, it turned to face them. Its body was silver, and its eyes were eery, black holes.

The group gasped in alarm. Amy and Atlas were the only members of the group who didn't instantly recognise the figure. The Doctor had done battle with its kind for hundreds of years, while the Gems remembered all too clearly, the army of ghosts which had transformed into metal monsters, against whom they had furiously defended Beach City.

It was a Cyberman...

"Alert! Teleport site compromised. Witnesses must be purged! DELETE! DELETE!"

"Everyone look out!" The Doctor warned, as the Cyberman lifted its hand.

Garnet shot forwards on the balls of her feet. Her gauntlet materialised on her hand, as she wrapped it around the cyberman's palm. There was a brief flash of red as the cyborg's weapon fired, but Garnet and her gauntlet were unharmed. She ducked under the cyberman's arm as it swung at her, and ended up behind it. Before her adversary could turn around, Garnet grabbed the cyberman's wrists, pulled them behind it, and delivered a kick, with all her strength, to the small of its metal back.

With a burst of sparks, the cyberman's shoulders gave in and its body flew forwards, while its arms remained in Garnet's hands. Feeling a sense of personal resentment, Pearl leapt past the Doctor, and swung her spear at the monster, swiftly severing its head, which the Doctor quickly caught in his hands.

"Delete... Deleeee..." The head gurgled, quietly.

Although most of the group looked pleased with their small victory, the Doctor frowned. "Now we're in trouble..."

Before anyone could ask what he meant, the teleport pad activated once again, and three figures appeared, obscured in coats and hats, like Pearl's assailant, with human-like (or Clem-like) chins visible below their goggles. Two of them were more stocky, masculine types, while the third had a more slender, feminine frame.

Garnet and Pearl stood shoulder to shoulder, weapons in hand, but the cyborgs struck with the element of surprise. The new trio of attackers wielded agility not displayed by the one who had cracked Pearl. Like a ninja, one of them leapt against the brick wall, ran several steps and tackled Pearl from the side, before she could defend herself, sending her flying into Garnet who, in turn, was distracted from a rapid jump kick from the second cyborg. The Gems fell backwards, and the third attacker took the chance to unleash a salvo of laser fire from her palms. This time, Garnet was ready though, as she swung her gauntlets in all directions, like a blur, deflecting each blast recklessly back at their attackers, forcing them to group up once more.

The Doctor had an anxious look on his face. Even if the Gems were able to dispatch these alternative cybermen, there was no telling how many more lay at the other end of the teleport feed. They were standing on top of a hornet's nest.

"Peridot." He turned to her and demanded her attention. "We need to get out of here, use your metal powers!"

Peridot was torn for just a moment. She adored showing of her abilities, but her respect for Garnet made her reluctant to intervene. The deciding factor was the Doctor's commanding stare. Screwing up her face, Peridot pushed forwards with her hands, and the three cybermen flew backwards into the wall, with such force that it fractured on impact and collapsed on top of them.

"Run!" The Doctor ordered. The Gems, more used to resolving fights all at once, than the Doctor, seemed hesitant. "RUUUN!" The Time Lord angrily emphasised.

As the rubble shifted, the teleport gate began to glow again. Needed no more encouragement, the group quickly vacated the alley, being ushered out by the Doctor, who quickly followed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi guys, thanks for reading, as always. Last chapter, someone asked when the Gems fought the Cybermen. Well like most crossovers, this is set in an amalgamation of both franchises' universes. Meaning that in the Season 2 finale of Doctor Who, Cybermen invaded the earth, including Beach City. More attentive readers will notice that this means Steven should have known that aliens exist, in the last story, but attentive fans of Who will remember that time is in flux, meaning earth's history changed since the 9th Doctor's time. Hope that clears everything up.**

* * *

Deep beneath Shipyard City, a network of caverns ran deep into the planet. In one of the more shallow caverns, vast vats of water were situated, with hundreds of pipes running in and out of the stone above. They had been installed by the Clems, shortly after the first shipyards were built, and cleansed the water from the swamp to be distributed to the city's pipes, and vice versa.

Since the facility was managed by automated drones, the lights drilled into the walls had been inactive since the last time a Clem set foot in the caverns, over a hundred years ago, so the first light in the cavern, in all that time, was a bright purple flash from one of the vats. After that, silence and darkness resumed for several seconds, before, one after the other, streaks of purple slashed through the same vat, sending water pouring out. Eventually, the rips connected, running all around the vat, and it tore in two, sending a cascade of water to the cavern floor, along with a startled, purple Gem.

Amethyst slowly picked herself up off the floor. Her gem lit up and she parted the curtain of soggy, lilac hair covering her face, so she could look around.

"Uuugh... That's gotta be in the top 15 weirdest ways I've reformed..." She mumbled.

Amethyst climbed to her feet carefully, on the wet stone, and tried to remember what had happened. She had been in town with Pearl and Lapis, when the bugs had started attacking, then that guy had gone to attack Pearl, and Amethyst had saved her. Amethyst snorted proudly. Yeah, she was awesome. But why had she ended up here? Why didn't Pearl or Lapis watch over her gem while she rebuilt? Amethyst frowned worriedly, something bad might have happened.

Looking around, Amethyst saw that the cave she was in seemed to stretch beyond the light of her Gem. She hopped along the rocks, carefully, following the caverns wherever she could. However her gem had ended up in that water tank, Amethyst forcefully told herself that it didn't mean Pearl and Lapis had been poofed or... worse. The caves didn't look like any kind of prison, so Amethyst correctly assumed that she had ended up here by accident. She went on to deduce that Pearl and Lapis had been too busy fighting, to save her. Of course, that offered no insight into how that fight had went.

Amethyst frowned, sadly. Deep in her gut, her lingering insecurities began to bubble again. She was too small, too slow, not as good as other Amethysts, not as good as Pearl, Garnet or Jasper. She should have clocked the man in the coat sooner, pulled Pearl aside with her whip, instead of tackling her. She played through the scene in her head, several times, dreaming up reasons why, if Pearl and Lapis were hurt, it would be her fault. The dingy, dank cave she was in, did nothing for her optimism.

She shook her head forcefully. Can't think like that. What would Rose say? What would Steven say? Amethyst was fine the way she was. She did everything she could to save Pearl, if she had got hurt anyway, then... Amethyst abruptly cut off her train of thought again.

The cave was eerily silent, save for the trickling and dripping of water, but after a few minutes of walking, Amethyst thought she could hear something else. She looked around, inquisitively, like a meercat, then, after pulling her hair aside, she morphed her ear, prompting it to grow several times its size. Somewhere close by, something was making a repeated, soft tapping sound. Amethyst cautiously made her way through the caves, and soon found the source.

Crawling through the cave, in a single file, was a small group of creatures resembling spiders, slightly bigger than earth tarantulas, and with streaks on their bodies which glowed a bio-luminescent blue. The sound Amethyst had heard was their collective footsteps. They were crawling through the cavern and under a gap in the rocks, which they were just barely small enough to fit through.

Amethyst pondered for a moment. A few months ago, Steven had set up a classroom, made out of the junk in Amethyst's room, and asked Connie to tell him and Amethyst about the things she had been learning at school. Although reluctant at first, Connie had enjoyed playing the teacher, and giving the pair of them a lesson on biology. Amethyst too, had started out uncertain, planning to take a nap on her desk, but she had found Connie's lesson surprisingly interesting. Despite all her time on earth, and love of food, she knew very little about earth biology. Connie had taught her about life cycles, and about how all organic life forms ate other life forms, be they smaller animals, or plants, and Amethyst knew from Rose, that plants needed sunlight. Maybe these spiders were headed to the surface?

With a gleam of white/purple light, Amethyst shrank down to the size and shape of one of the spiders, with her gem sitting squarely on her abdomen, and scuttled in their direction.

"Hey guys! We going to the surface? Gonna eat some smaller bugs, which, in turn, feed on plant life?" She asked, cheerfully. "Hey, what's up with all these legs? Do we look weird, or what?"

The spiders didn't laugh. In fact, Amethyst suspected they didn't even understand her, but on the plus side, they didn't seem alarmed by her unusual hue, or boisterous attitude, and continued on the path, so Amethyst sighed and followed them in silence. The group continued to crawl under, over and around rocks for several minutes. Their erratic route made it difficult to tell, but Amethyst couldn't shake the feeling they were headed gradually lower.

The morphed, purple Gem exhaled slowly. Even if the spiders were headed deeper underground, that would mean they had come from higher up (possibly the surface), so logic would dictate they could lead her back if she stuck with them for long enough.

Eventually, the cave widened into a small alcove, on the side of an enormous cavern. Amethyst quickly scuttled ahead of the group to the edge of the cliff, and shone the light from her gem as brightly as she could, but the light didn't reach the other side of the colossal space, nor the top or the bottom.

"Whoa..." Amethyst whispered. Despite her hushed volume, her voice echoed eerily.

On by one, the spiders produced a glowing, blue strand from their spinnerets, attached it to the edge of the cliff, and began descending slowly into the void. With a shrug, Amethyst reached up to her gem with her back two legs, and produced a miniaturised version of her whip. Lassoing it around a small stalagmite, Amethyst followed her new friends downwards, feeding the whip from her gem as she summoned more and more of it.

It was a few moments of descending, before the deafening silence became too much for Amethyst. "So you guys live down here, or are we just hanging?" She asked, then snorted at her own, unintended pun.

Again, the spiders didn't answer, and the only sound for a while longer was Amethyst's question quietly reverberating off the cave walls.

Amethyst grinned mischievously, which wasn't easy to do, with the mouth of an arachnid. "AMETHYST RULES!" She shouted at the top of her voice.

The cave quickly agreed with her, as her declaration boomed back at her, over and over. While the cavern was still singing Amethyst's praises, Amethyst herself felt the power in her gem began to dwindle. She had never really experimented with how far she could extend her whip before, but she could feel her resolve fading, like she was holding weights at arm's length, and was increasingly desperate to give in. Just before her whip vanished, Amethyst swung over to one of her neighbors.

"Hey buddy, let me car pool with you!" She insisted, as she took ahold of the spider's thread.

Unbeknownst to Amethyst, the spiders under Shipyard City didn't use their webs to ensnare prey. That was the function which obligated earth spiders to develop webbing which was virtually indestructible to creatures of a relative size. Without such a need, the Shipyard spiders spun webs which could hold the spider's own weight, and very little more. As such, Amethyst had barely dispersed her whip and touched the other spider's thread, when it too broke, sending the spider and Amethyst, plummeting into the inky abyss beneath them.

-x-x-x-

Meanwhile, in the city above, Steven and friends had fled from their cybernetic pursuers. Amy had suggested returning to the garage, but the Doctor had quickly declined the idea, instead insisting that they go somewhere quiet, where no one would look for them. As such, the small, interspecies group found themselves at the library Steven and Connie had visited, earlier that day.

"Okay, someone wanna tell me what the hell that was?" Amy asked, breathlessly.

"A Cyberman..." Connie said, in a dark voice.

Connie had been a baby when the army of Cybermen had invaded earth, but she had seen pictures, and seen the fear in the eyes of any adult who spoke of the event, especially her parents. Steven had spent the invasion huddled in Greg's arms in Amethyst's room in the temple, while the Gems had defended Beach City, until the Cybermen mysteriously floated into the air and flew, from all over the world, to London, England, where they promptly vanished.

"They invaded our planet a long time ago." Steven explained to Amy. "But we never really found out where they came from or what happened to them."

The Doctor had made a quick lap of the small library, while the rest of the group sat down and caught their breath. He arrived at the head of the table they were sat around, with two books, a handful of small disks, and a data pad.

"The Cybermen who attacked earth, were creatures from a parallel universe, created by a man called John Lumic." The Doctor explained, doing his best 'teacher' voice. Sure enough, the group hung on every word. "They were created in a misguided attempt to cure humanity of all weakness and disease. The only problem, was that to adapt to having your brain put in a metal body, a person's emotions have to be suppressed, permanently." He frowned, sadly. "Imagine, living your whole life, with no feelings, and no different from anyone else."

"That stinks!" Peridot angrily snapped. "That's worse than how Homeworld acts!"

The Doctor appreciated the comparison. A small part of him had always worried what would happen if the Diamonds discovered the Cybermen. If they saw the appeal of encasing organic lifeforms in mineral shells, then their war on organic life could become a great deal more sinister.

"When the Cybermen came to Earth, they carried with them a sort of background radiation, that I was able to use to send them back." The Doctor said. His hearts ached painfully as he remembered losing Rose, the first time. He cleared his throat. "But the trouble is, this universe has always had Cybermen too..."

"But what are they doing here?" Pearl asked. "What do Cybermen want?"

During the invasion, Cybermen had attempted to abduct Beach City residents, but the Gems had never known why, although Pearl had an idea, now that the Doctor had explained what they were.

"Cybermen see all unconverted life as inferior." The Doctor said. "If an organic life form can be converted, it should be, and if it can't..."

"Delete..." Garnet finished the Doctor's sentence, remembering the word the Cybermen had chanted, while bombarding the Gems with laser fire.

"But they're not converting anyone." Amy pointed out. "People would know if there were body snatching robots on the loose. We'd stop them."

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded in agreement. "There can't be many of them here, a few dozen maybe. See, if there was a Cyber Fleet that wanted this planet converted, then they could destroy this city's defenses with the flick of a switch... But they know they can't take the Clem government head on, so they're lying low." The Doctor remembered the fully converted Cyberman seeking to purge any witnesses of their presence.

"So, they're stuck here, like us?" Connie suggested.

"But why would they want Lapis?" Peridot demanded. "Do you think they'll hurt her?"

The Doctor cringed hesitantly as he considered the question. What would the Cybermen want with a Gem who controls water? He slid one of the books he had found over to Connie and Steven and picked the other one up himself. Both books were logs of registered and unregistered ships that had been in Shipyard City, since it's construction.

"If we can find out when the Cybermen came to the city, and where they are now, then maybe we'll get some insight on what they're planning. You two, look for anything unknown, or unidentified. UFO's, lights in the sky, that sort of thing."

The group poured over the information in the books and data disks, finding few results. The Doctor pulled a notepad out of his pockets and sketched all the cyber ships he knew of, but Amy and Atlas didn't recognise any of them. It was twenty minutes into their research, when the Doctor was looking at a hologram of the city, with a topographical map of the swamp. One by one, the pieces of the puzzle fitted together in the Doctor's mind, until he slammed his palms down on the table and dramatically announced, "OF COURSE!"

Most of the group, except Garnet, jumped in alarm, and turned to face him.

"When the arena ship crashed here, it didn't just sink, if was swallowed whole! But why? The swamp isn't that deep!"

"We were above an air pocket." Garnet reminded him.

"Something about the rock this planet is made of causes caves to form, some of them pretty close to the surface, so when big ships land, sometimes they cause cave-ins." Amy said.

"Well what if the same thing that happened to the arena, happened to them?" The Doctor proposed. "Say a Cybership came to this system for whatever reason, then it malfunctioned, got bugs in its engine, crashed, doesn't matter! It fell out of the sky, got swallowed in the swamp, then what are you left with? Handful of Cybermen, stuck on a planet with nothing to do."

"Hold up." Amy shook her head disapprovingly. "If an unregistered, alien ship crash-landed in the swamp, we would have noticed, even if it was on the other side of the planet!"

The Doctor smiled knowingly. "Only if you were here to notice. Cybermen are essentially immortal. They could have been lying dormant under the swamp for centuries, before the Clems swept in and built a city on top of them."

"The energy vampires!" Amy suddenly realised. "They must have been draining our power to charge their ship!"

The Doctor had been thinking the same thing, but there was just one problem. "How old is the city?" He asked her.

"About... 100 years old?" She estimated.

The Doctor frowned. "City this size, they could charge a standard cyber ship in a month, maybe less. What are they doing with all that power?"

"And why do they need Lapis?" Peridot repeated, more frustrated than before.

"I dunno... to... dig their ship out?" The Doctor half-heartedly suggested. "No, that's barmy..."

The Cybermen would have no way of knowing about Lapis' powers, and even if they did, their ship would be buried under dense layers of rocks, not just water, and most importantly of all, a functioning cyber ship could blast its way through solid rock with no trouble at all.

The research continued with no more success for a moment, until Garnet quickly rose to her feet.

"Garnet...?" Pearl, began to ask, but Garnet interrupted her.

"We need to leave. Pearl, Connie, Steven, go out the fire exit to the alleyway, we'll join you shortly." She ordered.

"Can you see something?" Connie asked.

"What's going to happen?" Steven elaborated.

Garnet frowned seriously. It was an expression she didn't wear often, but when she did, the Crystal Gems knew it was very important to do as she said, immediately. "NOW!"

Steven and Connie got to their feet and were quickly ushered out by Pearl, who drew her spear in preparation, as she followed them outside.

"Garnet, what is it?" The Doctor asked, but he soon got his answer.

A Clem woman in an expensive-looking, black suit and with a practical haircut came striding into the library, with a confident swagger that made her seem like she owned the place. Behind her, were two burly men, with equal degrees of confidence and formality. She made a beeline for the group at the table. The second he saw them, the Doctor know what Garnet had seen, and why she had wanted Steven and Connie out of the room. Watching corrupted Gems getting poofed was one thing, but the Doctor too, didn't want the children seeing what was about to happen.

The woman walked over to Peridot and, before saying a word, produced a leather wallet with an ID card inside, and showed it to the small, green Gem.

"Young lady, I'm from the Shipyard City Department of Internal Investigation. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me, immediately." She ordered.

"Guuuys..." Peridot called for help, worriedly, turning her head slightly, but unwilling to take her eyes off the intimidating Clem.

The Doctor shot to his feet and rounded the table. "Sorry, do you mind telling me why you need my... niece?"

The woman looked the Doctor in the eye for a few seconds. He knew why they were really here, and after a moment of careful eye contact, she knew that he knew. In a flash, she plunged her hand inside her jacket and pulled out a handheld laser pistol, but, moving even faster, Garnet grabbed one of the books on the table, and threw it at the woman's hand, sending the gun spiraling to the floor.

"Sorry!" The Doctor crammed as much remorse as he could into his hasty apology, before training his screwdriver on the agents, and activating it.

The three Clems gave a spine-chilling scream, grabbed their heads and fell to their knees, where they writhed for a few seconds, before falling flat on the library floor.

"Holy crap, you killed them!" Amy screamed, shooting to her feet.

As she ran around to the dead Clems, the Doctor replied, "No... the Cybermen killed them. Look at their ears."

Amy did. "Ear pieces? All government agents have..." Amy gasped in disgust as she removed the piece from the woman's ear. Trailing from it, was a fleshy tendril, which had been reaching into the woman's head.

"This is how they infiltrated Canary Wharf, and invaded Earth." The Doctor said. "It's just like the interface for the bugs, only more advanced."

"So, they tried being stealthy and it didn't work..." Amy said, with a nauseous undertone to her voice. "Does that mean they'll be sending more of those guys in the coats?"

"Doctor..." Peridot nervously began. "Why do the Cybermen want me!?"

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, anxiously. "Yes... and I don't know!" He answered both questions, in turn. "Look, we need to leave. Garnet, I think we need to find that ship, and finish this at the source."

Garnet nodded. "Good plan. Everyone, let's go."


	13. Chapter 13

Amethyst waited patiently as her head stopped spinning. She had reverted to her normal form in midair and, having learnt her lesson from the time she fell off the cliff at the beach, spun around so her gem was facing upwards. Before long, her back had slammed into a smooth, metal surface with just little enough force to spare her physical form from exploding. She climbed up slowly, disorientated but, since her gem was preserved, unharmed.

So far as she could tell, by the light of her gem, the metal surface she was standing on covered the cavern wall to wall, almost as though whatever it was had carved the cavern itself. As her senses realigned, Amethyst noticed a scratching, itching sensation on her scalp. She reached up, and found the spider she had fallen with, frantically grasping her hair. She pried it off her head and held it in front of her.

"Hey dude. Sorry for taking you down with me." She said, casually.

The spider didn't reply, and twisted its bodily segments back and forth, trying to break free of Amethyst's grasp. Amethyst put it down gently and it looked around, cautiously.

"Well go on then, man. Show me what's so great about this place, that we all had to come down here."

She gently nudged the spider with her foot, and it went scurrying along the metallic ground. As Amethyst followed it, she realised, without a doubt, that the surface she was standing on hadn't occurred naturally. She could see the distinct, metal panels, which had been welded together. Amethyst's first theory was that it was some kind of bunker, for the Clem's elites to hide in, in times of disaster, but she quickly remembered what had happened to the arena ship, and reasoned that this could be another ship that had shared the same fate.

The unlikely duo soon arrived at their destination. A hefty crack ran through the surface of the ship. A savvier detective than Amethyst, would have noticed that the crack had been made from the inside, by some kind of energy fluctuation, since the metal had bent outwards, and was scorched or even melted in places, but Amethyst simply snorted and remarked, "Dang, this thing got janked!"

The spider crawled into the crack, and soon after, the spiders Amethyst had been following, caught up, and joined it. Amethyst peered over the edge and gasped. The space on the other side of the crack was teeming with spiders. If they hadn't been scurrying back and forth so aimlessly, Amethyst would think she was looking at a nest. Before she could contemplate the cause of the gathering any further, Amethyst was distracted.

The ship began to vibrate, increasing over just a few seconds, from barely noticeable, to so severe Amethyst could barely stay on her feet. The whir of engines roared into life, also increasing in intensity until it was deafening. Just when Amethyst thought the ship was going to launch out of the rock, taking her with it, arcs of electricity began leaping from the crack and dancing across the metal hull of the ship.

"Dudes!" Amethyst shouted over the noise. "You gotta get out of there! It's gonna..."

Before Amethyst could finish her warning, there was an explosion of light from the crack, and several mighty bolts of lightning shot skywards, and danced off the walls of the cave, crackling upwards, into the darkness. Once again, Amethyst was stunned. Her ears rang, and the spots in her eyes almost blinded her. She staggered backwards, and fell.

As she got her bearings again, and her eyesight and hearing returned, the first thing Amethyst saw were the spiders. Not only were they unharmed, but the glowing patches on their backs were shining like lightbulbs. They came scurrying out of the crack, and began climbing the walls of the cave. It took Amethyst a moment to realise what the spiders had been doing.

"Ooooh it's food! You guys eat the electricity!" She said. "Man, Connie was way wrong."

That answered what the spiders were doing, but offered no insight into what this ship was doing here. Amethyst wasn't an engineer, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't take a Peridot to figure out that a ship buried this deep shouldn't be active, unless it was still being maintained by someone. Her curiosity temporarily overriding her urge to return to the city, Amethyst took her spider form again, and scurried into the crack. She hoped there wouldn't be another outburst, but she knew from experience, that electricity could only destroy an Amethyst's physical form, not damage her gem.

The interior of the ship, beyond the crack was comprised of dense, twisting glass and metal, which made it difficult to see far, from the light of Amethyst's gem, but before long, she found an open space, a corridor, running along the length of the ship, and in the distance, she thought she could hear a voice. She crawled along the ceiling, towards the source.

"… experiment has failed. Conclusive evidence that the anomaly must be intact, for desired results. Energy signature of the Beta entity has been extrapolated."

Amethyst knew those monotone, robotic voices anywhere, and even more distinct, was the nerd talk. Cybermen... Sure enough, one walked past the end of the corridor, with much hissing and stomping. Amethyst was torn. She didn't like to admit it, but she hadn't been much help in the Cyberman invasion of 2006. Just like Peridot, they had exploited the electrical conductivity of her whips and stunned her each time she had tried to wrangle one. It hadn't been until she fused with Pearl, that she had been able to take any of them out.

Amethyst considered fleeing. Get back to the city, warn Garnet and the others, and come back in full force, but then she remembered her fears, after reforming. The man in the coat had made to attack Pearl. What if he had something to do with the Cybermen, and Pearl was being held captive on this ship, in need of rescue again? Fear surged through Amethyst's physical form as her heroic obligation drove her deeper into the lion's den.

"Beta entity has been located on the surface and is in motion. Retrieval units 134Y, 385Y and 974Y have been terminated."

"Monitor Beta entity's movement and prepare Tier 17 retrieval units."

Amethyst followed the voices towards the head of the ship. Eventually, she found herself at what looked like a ship bridge, based on what she had seen of earth sci-fi. Interface panels lined the walls, and sturdy sheets of glass displayed a view of the rocky cavern outside the ship. Seven Cybermen filled the room, milling around the interfaces, controlling the ship, not that Amethyst could tell what they were trying to make it do. What ultimately caught Amethyst's eye, though, was Lapis.

The blue Gem was in a corner of the room, hovering a foot off the air, with her feet pointing downwards, and her hands aimed at the ceiling. From both, small arcs of white light danced towards their respective sides of the ship, seemingly holding Lapis in place. Her head hung down in defeat. If she had screamed angrily at her captors or demanded her release, she had given in, during the time Amethyst had spent, traversing the caves.

Amethyst scurried over the ceiling, quietly. She hadn't seen any other spiders on the ship, but the Cybermen didn't seem to be reacting to her presence. It seemed unlikely that they hadn't noticed her, at all. When she reached the space above Lapis, Amethyst drew her whip and, with some concentration, manifested a plunger-like sucker on the end of it, which she managed to seal to the ship's ceiling.

Gently, she extended her whip, abseiling down to Lapis, like a spider, until she was inches away from the other Gem's ear.

"Psst... hey Lapis!" She whispered.

Lapis gasped gently and looked up. "Amethyst?"

"Yeah, it's me. What's going on here?"

"These guys were controlling the bugs! Something stung me and I reformed here. Who are these guys?"

"Cybermen..." Amethyst replied, fear evident in her voice. "They invaded earth like, ten years ago, when you were still..." Amethyst cleared her throat, quietly. "Indisposed... What are they doing?"

"I don't know, they keep talking about their energy reserves. I think they're trying to use my gem as a battery or something. They just did something to me which hurt... a lot..."

"Don't worry, dude. I'm gonna find a way to get you out of here." Amethyst promised. She ran through possible escape scenarios in her mind. None of them ended well...

"Are the others with you?"

Even though Amethyst had already accepted she wasn't much of a match for the Cybermen, that hurt a little bit. "No... I got stuck down here somehow, I don't know where everyone else is."

The moment Amethyst finished her sentence, one of the Cybermen across the bridge spun around, lifted its hand and fired at Amethyst. With a yelp of surprise, Amethyst dispersed her whip and fell the remaining few feet to the floor, dodging the blast and reverting her form as she did. The Cyberman fired again, and the others in the room joined in. Remaining on all fours, Amethyst desperately scurried left and right as she dodged the laser fire.

The moment she saw a window of opportunity, Amethyst curled into a ball and rolled around the outside of the bridge. The Cybermen tried to track her movement, but before they could land a shot, she bulldozed her adversaries on the opposite side of the bridge, from Lapis, ramming four sets of legs out from underneath them, and sending them collapsing to the floor.

Landing on her feet, Amethyst lashed her whip around the ankles of the closest, collapsed Cyberman and, eager to release it before she was electrocuted, spun around on the spot, hurling it across the bridge to another Cyberman, who would otherwise have shot at her further.

Assuming her Purple Puma form, Amethyst leapt across the room with her fists in the air, ready to slam the remaining two Cybermen through the floor but, to her surprise, she ground to a halt in midair. The shock caused her to revert form again. With a flash of white light, her arms and legs were forced into a vertical position, and she was trapped in the same confinement that had ensnared Lapis.

Amethyst grunted in frustration as she tried to free herself. "What's the matter!? You Cyber-chickens afraid to fight me!?" She goaded, to no avail. With a gleam from her Gem, she attempted to expand beyond her electronic prison, but she found it almost impossible to change her form at all.

As the Cybermen climbed to their feet, largely unharmed, they all began to share looks, as though reacting to incoming news. Sure enough, they soon articulated.

"Beta entity has entered the tunnels. Dispatch retrieval units. The Beta entity must be retrieved at all costs."

"Amethyst. They didn't attack you until you said you didn't know where the others are!" Lapis pointed out. "They're after them!"

"Hey yeah... YOU GUYS BETTER LEAVE OUR FRIENDS ALONE!" Amethyst snapped.

-x-x-x-

After leaving the library. The Doctor, Steven and friends had made a beeline for the nearest manhole cover, finding a network of sewers, which made the swamp air outside smell like a basket of flowers. The Doctor reasoned that the Cybermen had made their way through the caverns in person, before establishing teleport links, and that, between the group's collective skills and technology, they would find their way down to it quickly enough.

At the Doctor's direction, Garnet had punched a hole in the floor of the sewer, tearing the metallic foundation away, to reveal empty caverns beneath. The Doctor had leapt down first, landing nimbly in his trainers, followed by the Gems, Amy and Atlas, and finally, Steven came floating down, holding Connie, by her hands, beneath him.

The caverns stretched out, eerily, beyond the light of the gems, and the only sounds were the quiet dripping of water, and the scurrying of the occasional cave creature.

"It's this way." Garnet stated, leading the group down a slope, and through the caverns.

The group travelled for a few minutes, hesitant to break the eerie silence of the gloomy caves. Eventually, it was Steven who spoke up.

"Hey Doctor, I never really got a chance to ask, but what happened to that last body you had? I can't believe you had to regenerate again so soon."

"Really?" The Doctor asked, somewhat surprised. "How long's it been?"

"Just a couple of weeks!"

The Doctor sucked in through his teeth, indicating severity. "Been a few years for me, Stevie-boy! Mind you, that last body of mine didn't last as long as usual. He was a real fighter, that one! Rude, too... Mind you, I still am rude, apparently..."

"Steven told me about Time Lords and regeneration." Connie told the Doctor. "Do you mind if I ask what happened?"

The Doctor considered the question. Did he mind? It hadn't been a particularly sad time. He usually feared for his present life when he regenerated, but his 9th incarnation had had something of a death wish, always rushing from fight to fight, trying not to think about the war. He was still like that in many ways, but considerably happier, thanks, in no small part, to Rose and the others.

"There was this battle... It was the Daleks, you remember those?"

Steven, Connie, and the Gems shuddered at the name. They remembered all too clearly, the earth being stolen, and the images of Daleks on TV, during the Cyberman invasion.

"A friend of mine, this... amazing woman called... Rose." The Doctor grinned, as he noticed the minor coincidence, for the first time. Pearl looked up, at the sound of the name, instinctively.

"Like my mom!" Steven pointed out.

"She was like your mum, actually, from what I've heard... Anyway, she defeated the Daleks by calling on the power of the Time Vortex."

"Like White Point Star?" Steven compared.

"Exactly. Except she wasn't a Time Lord or a Gem. That energy would have killed her. I let it kill me instead." The Doctor said, dismissively, as though he had done nothing impressive.

Steven and Connie seemed to disagree. "That's amazing!" "You're a hero!"

Garnet led the group to a cracked and crumbling wall of the cave. After staring at it motionlessly and silently for several seconds, she summoned her gauntlet and punched the rock, causing it to implode backwards, revealing a narrow path leading downwards.

"So, what have you been doing recently?" Steven enquired, as the group descended the path, in single file.

The Doctor frowned, that was definitely a more difficult question. The last time he had met Steven, the young half-Gem had proven to be wise, insightful and honest beyond his years. Maybe he was exactly the person the Doctor should talk to about what he had done at Bowie Base One, and the approaching consequences. The rest of the group though, although perfectly virtuous-seeming people, the Doctor wasn't as comfortable around.

"Ohhh... this and that. Been meaning to pop off to a planet called Ood Sphere to visit a friend soon. Suppose I'll get around to it eventually..."

The group was being led by Garnet, with the Doctor immediately behind her. For a moment, he thought he had heard her sigh under her breath, in discomfort. Did Garnet already know what the Doctor had done? Could Sapphires sense fixed points in time? The Doctor had never known one personally, so he wasn't certain. The Doctor was sure that Garnet wouldn't discuss his actions without his permission, but was made uncomfortable nonetheless.

The cave leveled out and widened considerably. The group's footsteps almost began to echo. As they approached the center of the cave, Garnet tensed up. She bent her elbows and summoned her gauntlets. "Everyone get ready!" She said.

The cave was lit up brightly for just a second, as Steven and Pearl summoned their weapons and, simultaneously, twelve figures materialised with a flash of blue light, surrounding the group. Half of them were fully converted Cybermen, the other half were the stealthier, more agile variant. Away from the watchful eyes of the city, the Cybermen had forgone their coats and hats. They had a far more humanoid shape than conventional Cybermen, but their bodies were almost entirely coated in metal, with gyroscopic joints, in their elbows and knees, rather than stiff and rigid. Their eyes, were glass circles, like camera lenses, rather than black voids.

"Everyone form a circle." Garnet ordered.

One of the Cybermen stepped forwards. "The Cyberman protocol requires one of your number, the one designated 'Peridot'. The rest of you may leave."

Peridot whimpered fearfully. Rather than replying, Garnet shifted her center of gravity, so as to lunge at the nearest Cyberman, but the Doctor quickly threw his hands out between the fusion and the cyborg.

"Wait! Wait wait wait!" He pleaded. "What do you mean Protocol? What's the Cyberman protocol for being stranded on an unconverted planet?"

"Return to the fleet." The Cyberman compliantly replied.

"The fleet!?" The Doctor asked, derision and surprise on his face. "You've been here for a century! The fleet's moved on! This is Clem-controlled space now, Amy here had never even heard of a Cyberman before today!"

"What do you need Peridot for?" Steven angrily demanded.

"We do not."

Before any of the group could question the confusing contradiction, the Cybermen attacked. In an instant, twelve arms pointed at the group and unleashed a barrage of laser fire. The group reacted with flawless reflexes. Garnet lunged forwards, deflecting laser fire by swinging her gauntlets in all directions, like she was playing Meat Beat Mania again, before tearing the offending arm from the nearest Cyberman, and delivering a fatal punch to the chest with her other hand.

Pearl swayed left and right, her mind racing as she tried to keep track of the Cybermen's arms, and the angle from which they were firing. As one of the slender Cybermen approached her, she leapt forwards, rolling in the air, before swiftly beheading it with her spear, before spinning around, and slicing through two more Cybermen's arm-mounted weapons, and following through with a jump kick to each of their heads.

Steven and Connie put into practice their iconic tag team technique. The pair charged at the nearest Cyberman behind Steven's shield. The moment they sensed a wide enough break between laser blasts, the pair spun around in perfect synchronicity, so Connie could slice through the arm vertically, while Steven shielded them from most of the remaining Cybermen. Behind Steven, one of the partially converted attackers took aim at the duo, but the Doctor swiftly grabbed hold of its head and frantically ran the sonic screwdriver up and down its arm, until the weapon disengaged with a burst of smoke.

As it turned out, Amy and Atlas were capable of holding their own, too. With a word from Amy, Atlas entered 'Combat Mode'. They shot at the nearest Cyberman with impressive speed, seized its laser-mounted arm, and spun around its back, forcing it into a martial arts hold, which proved to be just as effective on Cybermen, as Clem. One of the slender Cybermen attempted to leap to its colleague's aid, but, striking like a scorpion's sting, Atlas thrust their free hand forwards with their fingers braced, swiftly shattering its glass eyes. While the Cyberman Atlas had detained struggled and electrocuted them, to no avail, Amy leapt forwards and pressed a taser-like device to the cyborg's head. It writhed helplessly in Atlas' hold, until they dropped them, lifelessly to the floor.

While the skirmish wore on, Peridot stood in the center of the group, spinning around, trying to use her metal powers to aid in the fight, wherever she could. Unlike in the alleyway, she didn't have the space to simply propel their attackers away, nor bury them without also burying her friends. Instead, she tried to wrangle their weapons to point them in less harmful directions.

While she was distracted, Peridot didn't notice a bat-like creature crawling along the roof of the cave. While it approached the space directly above the green Gem, Garnet looked up, while wrangling a Cyberman's head with one hand, and wrestling another's arm away with the other. "Peridot, look out!"

Peridot looked over to Garnet, unsure of how to react to her warning. The bat dropped down from the ceiling, and glided directly to Peridot's chest, where, before she could pry it from herself and throw it away, it placed a small, circular disk to her chest, with its mouth. With another flash of blue light, the Cybermen vanished, and so did Peridot.

The sounds of the battle rang in the group's ears and the weight of their failure settled, Pearl was the first to speak. "Is... is everyone okay?"

"They took Peridot!" Steven pointed out the obvious.

The Doctor paced back and forth, agitated for how little he'd been able to help during the fight. "We're deep underground... silicone rich minerals... that was a short-range teleport, I mean SHORT-range... We're close everyone, we need to keep moving!"

"But Doctor, why do they want Peridot?" Steven asked, tearfully. "Are they gonna hurt her?"

The Doctor grabbed his hair, deep in thought. "They said they didn't want her... but they do... The ship's buried... they need massive amounts of power for something... They already took... OH!" He shouted, making the group jump. "I'm thick! We're thick! Everyone's thick! Don't you see? They need Peridot, but they don't want Peridot!"

Steven gasped, and finished the Doctor's epiphany with him.

"They need Jade!"


	14. Chapter 14

The Cybermen came stomping onto their ship's bridge. One of their number was holding Peridot by the waist, while she struggled, threw her arms around, and screamed. Every time she attempted to use her ferrokinetic powers to free herself, the Cyberman holding her would release a painful jolt of electricity.

"Unhand me this second you dim-witted cyber-CLODS, or you will feel the wrath of my unbridled fury!"

Lapis and Amethyst heard Peridot before they saw her. "Peridot?" Lapis called.

"Lapis!" Peridot cried in relief, as she saw her companion. "Oh my stars! I'm so glad you're alright! Are you alright? Did they hurt you!?"

"No no, I'm fine." Lapis lied, for fear of exacerbating the green Gem's hysteria. "Did they hurt you?"

Peridot snorted in relief. "Who cares!?"

Lapis frowned and rolled her eyes, reluctant to admit sincere feelings. "I do..."

With no visible command, Lapis floated towards the centre of the bridge, the white light holding her in place danced along the ceiling and floor as she went. The Cyberman holding Peridot carried her over and placed her on the floor by Lapis. Before Peridot could help lapis or scramble for freedom, a cylindrical forcefield manifested around the Gems, and Lapis' restraints disengaged, dropping her next to her friend.

One of the Cybermen approached the newly-formed prison. "Each of you possess fragments of the energy signature of the Prime Anomaly."

"The what?" Lapis asked, with an angry sneer.

Several images appeared, around the outside of the two Gems' cell. Most of them were blurred or obscured by clouds or bright light, but the subject was clear.

"Jade?" Lapis asked, in quiet confusion.

"You want us to form Jade?" Peridot elaborated, slowly beginning to understand.

Several of the Cybermen shared looks. They had been unaware of the relationship between Lapis, Peridot and Jade. They quickly updated their records.

"You will form the anomaly, and the Cyber ship will return to the fleet." The Cyberman stated.

"Uhh yo!" Amethyst angrily drew the Cybermen's attention. "You can't just fly out of here! There's a whole city up there!"

One of the Cybermen turned to Amethyst intimidatingly. "Irrelevant."

Amethyst's reaction was one of fury. She snarled angrily and her gem illuminated as she renewed her effort to shapeshift her way out of her confinement.

Lapis faced the Cyberman who had addressed her and Peridot, and folded her arms, pointedly. "Well we're not doing it."

Peridot mimicked Lapis' gesture and closed her eyes, smugly. "That's right! We only fuse when we feel like it!"

The Cyberman replied. "Your compliance is not necessary."

Before Lapis and Peridot could query further, beams of white light, the likes of which were restraining Amethyst, appeared between the two Gems, slowly pulling them together. Alarmed, they braced their hands against each other, trying to push one another away, resisting the influence of the Cybermen's technology.

"No, it is!" Lapis frantically insisted. "You can't force two Gems to fuse!"

"Garnet is going to destroy you for this!" Peridot angrily threatened.

It seemed the Cybermen's strategy was more sophisticated than simply pressing the two Gems together, as sparks of white light began to shoot from Peridot's gem, and around Lapis' back to hers, but neither gem illuminated, indicating impending fusion.

"Modify energy relay pattern to those of the anomaly." One of the Cybermen instructed. Others busied themselves at the ship's controls.

Lapis and Peridot cringed in distress as they became shrouded in light. A gleaming ball of whiteness, like a small sun, glared from the prison cell, before an explosion of white smoke swiftly silenced the hum of the machinery. When it cleared, neither Lapis, Peridot or Jade were anywhere to be seen. Two gems lay lifelessly on the floor of the cell.

"Lapis! Peridot!" Amethyst cried, craning her neck and squinting, inspecting the two gems for damage, as best she could. So far as she could tell, there was none.

"Forced assembly of the anomaly- deemed impractical." A Cyberman noted.

"That's right! So you may as well let us go! There's no way you'll get your metal mitts on Jade!" Amethyst optimistically insisted.

Again, a Cyberman turned, to address the boisterous, captive Gem. "Incorrect."

-x-x-x-

Not too far above the ship, the Doctor, Steven and friends were closing in. At the news that the Cybermen could be planning to force a fusion, Garnet had assumed an expression nobody had seen on her since her confrontation with the Gem abominations under the Prime Kindergarten. She had swiftly led the group through the tunnels, and soon arrived at the same cliff, from which Amethyst had abseiled with her eight-legged friends.

Amy offered the Doctor a spare grappling hook, and the pair of them swiftly descended on sturdy cables, attached, via the guns, to secure braces, strapped to their arms. The remainder of the group simply jumped over the edge, with Atlas perfectly bracing their legs on impact with the ship, just like the Gems, and Steven floating gently down, holding Connie's hands.

"Is this it?" Connie asked, somewhat awed to be standing on top of the ship, of the creatures which had invaded her world.

The Doctor disengaged the cable from his gun and returned it to Amy. He took his screwdriver from his pocket and waved it around. "Yup, genuine Cyber ship. Old one too! This was a relic even before it crashed here. No wonder the fleet didn't come looking for it. Oh... Hang on..."

The Doctor rotated the screwdriver like the needle of a compass. Once he seemed to find what he was looking for, his face lit up in alarm, and he ran from the group, across the surface of the ship.

"Doctor! What is it?" Steven called, before leading the group, in pursuing the easily-distracted Time Lord.

The group arrived at the crack, through which Amethyst had made her way into the ship. They stood around it, inspecting the damage. The Doctor, Amy and Pearl were the only ones who had a working understanding of what had happened. They made corresponding sounds of sudden understanding.

"It's the engine..." Amy began explaining, for the rest of the group.

"It must have given out, as it entered this planet's gravity!" Pearl continued. "It overworked under the strain and all but exploded!"

"And now, whenever they try to fire up the ship, it leaks energy at a massive rate." The Doctor finished.

"And that's the energy vampires..." Amy realised. "They suck power from the city, put those disgusting things in the brains of anyone who could find and stop them, and try to take off whenever their power cells are full, leaking energy back up to the city!"

"But what do they need Jade for?" Pearl asked. "If a century of draining the city didn't help, then what good would she be?"

"Jade can generate power much faster than the whole city combined. She could probably power this ship faster than it's leaking." The Doctor said, worriedly.

"And what? Fly the ship through the rocks, and destroying the city?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, or the planet..." The Doctor said, through gritted teeth. Before anyone could question what he said, he turned to Garnet. "Garnet, where are Peridot and Lapis?"

Garnet adjusted her visor slightly. "They're on the bridge. Amethyst is here too."

Most of the group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Right, I need to see the engine room. I'll need Pearl and Amy. I'm sending the rest of you to the bridge, try and slow them down." The Doctor ordered. As he spoke, he opened a small panel on the side of the ship, and pulled out a small, black box, attached to the ship by a series of multi-coloured cables.

"Wait, you're sending us there?" Connie asked, confused. "How?"

"Like this!" The Doctor held the box to the tip of the sonic screwdriver and, with a monotone buzz, the group vanished with two separate flashes of blue light.

Instantly, the Doctor, Pearl, Amy and Atlas appeared in a long, rectangular room, the walls and ceiling of which were made up of the ship's glowing, metallic engines, on which, several display monitors were lined up, each one consistently reporting on the damage to the ship. There was a single Cyberman in the engine room. The group had barely appeared, before Pearl drew her spear and launched it through the cyborg's head, while barely looking at it.

The Doctor and Amy raced to the nearest display and examined the data it displayed. Just as they had deduced, the Cybermen were repeatedly charging their ship and attempting to free themselves, to no avail. The Doctor delved into the data further, seeming to know what he was looking for.

"Doctor, if the Cybermen can't fly out of here, why did they keep trying, over and over?" Amy asked. "And why didn't they just get someone from the city to repair their ship. I mean, not everyone can fix a ship this banged up but... I mean... I probably could."

"Both the same reason." The Doctor replied. "Because they're thick! Cybermen are normally led by controllers, with more organic brains than the others, but a small ship like this, on its own? They've got all the problem-solving skills of a pocket calculator. The energy leaks from their ship, so they think 'let's add MORE energy!' And repeat until insane." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Doctor, we should head up to the bridge!" Pearl insisted, concern for Steven and Connie, clear on her voice.

The Doctor cringed, he was concerned too, but there were more pressing issues which had brought them to the engine room. "There's enough power running through this ship to crack this planet like an egg. If they manage to force Peridot and Lapis to form Jade, then whatever we do, this ship is either going to take off, or detonate. Either way, it's a bad day to live in Shipyard City..."

"What do we do?" Amy demanded, with a touch of hysteria in her voice.

"Amy, go to that display over there, open the energy matrix database and reverse all the positive and negative energy levels. Pearl, find all the data relating to energy acquisition and delete it."

While the trio worked, Garnet, Steven and Connie were confronting the Cybermen on the bridge. The group had appeared just as Lapis and Peridot were reforming.

"Lapis! Peridot! Amethyst!" Steven cried out, in relief.

"Steven! You gotta get us out of here! They're trying to force us to form Jade!" Peridot cried.

Garnet gritted her teeth and snarled angrily. He summoned her gauntlets and pointed at the nearest Cyberman with an armored finger. "A fusion's power comes from trust and comradery! You can't force it!"

As though to demonstrate Garnet's point, Steven and Connie exchanged consent with a curt nod and, with a gleam of pink light, Stevonnie stood at Garnet's shoulder, sword in hand. "That's right!"

In an instant, the two fusions shot forwards, Stevonnie shielded Garnet from a barrage of laser fire, and ducked at the last second, allowing Garnet's fist to collide with a Cyberman's head, sending it flying into the force field prison. The Cyberman writhed helplessly as the blue light of the forcefield crackled over it, and it collapsed to the ground.

The duo were about to split up, around Lapis and Peridot's prison, to take on the Cybermen on each side, when there was another flash of white light, and the ship's security system struck once more. Stevonnie was instantly pulled into a vertical position, Garnet resisted for several seconds, but she too, succumbed. One of the remaining Cybermen approached them.

"You'll never get away with this!" Stevonnie spat. "The Doctor and Pearl are gonna tear this ship apart!"

Amy's voice came from the entrance to the bridge, behind Stevonnie. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

Stevonnie craned their neck, to see over their shoulder. The Doctor, Pearl, Amy and Atlas came walking slowly onto the bridge, with a Cyberman escorting them from behind, its hand raised, ready to fire. The Doctor had a cheery grin on his face, and his hands in the air, in surrender. Pearl had her arms folded, and was frowning.

"I don't see why we couldn't have just destroyed this one, and taken the bridge by storm." Pearl whispered, but not quietly enough to conceal her voice from anyone on the bridge.

"Come on now, Pearl." The Doctor critisised. "Learn to accept a vastly superior opponent." He said, with a wink, that also failed to go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

The Cyberman who had approached the cell in the middle of the room, faced Peridot and Lapis, and aimed its hand at Stevonnie. "You will form the Prime Anomaly, or all of your associates will be deleted."

Pearl, Amethyst, Lapis and Peridot burst out in distress, pleading and insisting for Stevonnie's safety. The Doctor quickly placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder. She looked at him angrily and he shook his head, with an urgent look in his eyes which said, 'trust me.'

"Peridot, Lapis, it's alright." Garnet said. "If it's alright with you, please form Jade."

"But... the city..." Peridot said. Her morality almost, but not quite, outweighing her compassion for her friend.

"Stevonnie is more important." Garnet said, bluntly.

Stevonnie looked at Garnet, quizzically. They were sure Garnet wouldn't really let a city full of people perish, any more than she would let any harm come to Steven. In a situation like this, Garnet would fight with every fiber of her Gems, to save everyone, unless she had a plan. Hoping they were right, Stevonnie nodded their head. "Yes, please form Jade, so I can not die!" They said, with less than amazing acting.

With more than a bit of uncertainty between them, Lapis and Peridot faced each other, smiled nervously, and joined hands. A glow of turquoise light shone from the two Gems, concealing them, until it faded away, revealing Jade. No sooner had the fusion appeared, when she collapsed to her knees and cried in pain, as bolts of green lightning shot from her gems, to the ceiling, where a small, pylon-like device had descended.

"Let... my friends go... now!" Jade demanded, between grunts.

The Cyberman holding Stevonnie hostage turned to one at a terminal, on the outside of the bridge, who was measuring Jade's energy output. They relayed the information non-verbally for just a second.

"Delete the prisoners." Said the Cyberman at the terminal.

"NOW!" The Doctor cried.

With a flash of light, Ruby and Sapphire separated, each flying clear of Garnet's confinement. Sapphire immediately leapt at the Cyberman threatening Stevonnie, and tried to wrestle its arm away, despite her diminutive strength. After a moment of one-sided struggling though, the Cyberman was encased in a sturdy layer of ice. Meanwhile, Ruby scurried across the bridge, with Garnet's future vision fresh in her memory. She summoned her gauntlet and punched through the wall, pulling out a handful of red cables, with an accompanying burst of sparks.

The electronic shackles confining Amethyst and Stevonnie vanished, as did Jade's prison, but energy continued to fly from her gems. While the Crystal Gems and the Cybermen fought, the Doctor raced across the bridge, and over to one of the control consoles. He frantically tapped on the keys, his fingers a blur. Sure enough, Jade was pouring energy into the ship's power cells, which were already at 400% safe capacity.

While the Doctor was trying to stabilise the ship's energy levels, before it killed them all, a laser blast hit him squarely in the shoulder. He gasped in pain and fell backwards, clutching the laser burn. It hurt a lot, but it would take more than that to cause him to regenerate (four knocks, to begin with). The offending Cyberman hobbled towards the Doctor, compensating for a hole in its shin, left by Pearl's spear.

"Doctor!" Stevonnie called across the ship, while holding off a Cyberman, with their shield.

"I'm fine! Get Jade!" The Doctor called.

Looking at the ceiling above the fusion, Stevonnie kicked the Cyberman away and threw their shield, sending it soaring through the air, and slicing through the pylon, siphoning Jade's power. The lightning ceased emitting from Jade's gems and, with a gasp of relief, the fusion separated.

"Energy levels at 390% and falling." Said the Cyberman who had shot the Doctor, after it took his place at the console. "Engaging thrusters."

"No!" Amy cried in distress.

She sprinted towards the Cyberman, with her taser device in-hand, but slowed to a halt half way across the bridge, as she noticed the Cyberman step away from the console. A range of emotions boiled within her. First, she felt a crushing defeat and remorse for the millions of people in the city above, then confusion at the sounds that followed, and finally, relief. Amy had heard all manner of spaceship thrusters in her time, and whatever the Cyberman had done, she wasn't hearing thrusters now. Instead, a whirring, crackling sound came from the opposite end of the ship, getting gradually louder.

The Doctor quickly stood up and rested an arm on the Cyberman's shoulder, playfully. "Ooh, didn't I mention?" He began, with a triumphant grin. "I had a bit of a play around in the engine room, did some rewiring. You didn't just engage the thrusters, you..." He pulled his glasses from his pocket, put them on, and squinted at the display. "Ooh... that doesn't look good at all."

"Uhhh, what's happening?" Amethyst asked.

The group slowly gravitated together, as the crackling sound intensified, and the ship began to rattle, as though there was a train approaching.

"The energy cells are being emptied into the ship's perimeter defense, except... that only needs 2% power, which means the excess energy will go coursing through the ship's infrastructure." The Doctor explained.

As if on cue, several of the bridge's displays exploded with bursts of sparks, as the ship rattled with more intensity.

"Isn't that dangerous!?" Peridot insisted, rhetorically.

The Doctor scoffed. "Nah! Well... yes, incredibly... But only if you're on this ship. Come along, Clems and Gems!" He grinned. "I've been waiting to say that."

The Doctor flourished his sonic screwdriver and, with a flash of blue light, the ship vanished, and the group found themselves in the alleyway, where they had discovered the teleport feed. Before any of them breathed a triumphant sigh of relief, Amy's attention was drawn to the nearest street lamp. The crimson glow of sunset was filling the sky, and the lamps were beginning to illuminate, but the one Amy was looking at wasn't only lit up, but glaring so bright, it scolded her eyes, and shortly after the group appeared, the bulb exploded violently.

"Doctor..." Amy began, worriedly. "You said there was enough energy in that ship to destroy this planet... Where did that energy go?"

The group ran from the alleyway to the street. One after another, street lamps were exploding, the interiors of skyscrapers glowed like Christmas ornaments, and bolts of lightning were dancing from the repulsors. Dozens of Clems were running back and forth, crying in distress and panic.

"If everything in the city is getting overloaded... Doctor, we have nuclear power plants, here!" Amy all but shrieked.

"Right... come on then!" The Doctor sprinted down the street.

The group, including a newly formed Garnet, raced after him, ducking back and forth, between panicked pedestrians. It didn't take long, to realise where he was going. With a buzz from the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor burst into Amy's garage, with the group assembling behind him. Inside, the Roaming Eye was glowing faintly, and floating back and forth, through the garage, restrained by the power cable Peridot had run through the open door, and connected to the console.

The Doctor leapt into the ship's open door, and over to the controls. Peridot and Pearl joined him. "Right gang!" He cringed. "Team...? Allies! Anyway, everyone open up the power cells and suppress all other systems. As long as the eye is charging, nothing too... explosive will overload."

While the trio worked, Garnet, Steven and Connie helped Amy attach more sturdy power cables, to the garage's outlets, which were beginning to spark menacingly, and attach them to the interior of the Eye. After almost an hour of frantic working, the chaotic sounds from outside began to quiet, and the Roaming Eye stood proudly, in mid-air, in the center of the garage.

"Energy levels outside are stabilised!" The Doctor announced.

"And the Roaming Eye is at 82% power!" Peridot added. "We can go home!"

"We can!?" Connie led the rest of the group into the ship, beaming in joyous relief.

"Wait, what about the Cybermen?" Amy asked. "Is it over?"

"The ship is fried, along with all the fully converted Cybermen, and its batteries are dead." The Doctor said, confidently. "Which means there's no way of controlling the bugs and the partially converted. Job's a good 'un."

"So, I suppose now we can finally leave this planet." Pearl said, tastelessly.

Garnet turned to Amy. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Yeah." "Thanks a lot." Stene and Connie affirmed.

"Well thanks for crashing rent-free in my garage." Amy said, with mock irritation, betrayed by a fond smile.

"Ohh, I wouldn't say that." The Doctor said. He opened a panel on the Roaming Eye, and a tray, featuring dozens of red crystals rose out. The Doctor took one of them, and threw it to Amy. "That's a Gem micro-processing crystal, it's used for calculating and predicting the motion of galaxies, it stores millions of exabytes of data. Should be room for Atlas' personality on there, if you can figure it out."

"Help yourself, why don't you?" Peridot droned, from the pilot's seat.

Amy stared at the crystal in wonder. After all she had seen, she had no trouble believing that the crystal was an alien hard drive, but she was sure the Doctor was exaggerating about its capacity, even if it could help with Atlas. "Wow... thanks!"

After some more heartfelt goodbyes, the Doctor, and the Crystal Gems boarded the Roaming Eye, and it swept from Amy's garage, and shot into the sky.

-x-x-x-

Having received a call from Connie, during their flight back, Dr Maheswaran was waiting anxiously at Steven's house, when the Roaming Eye landed. They embraced one another tearfully, with respective cries of relief and gratitude. Lapis and Peridot used the warp pad in Steven's house to return to the barn, and Amethyst and Pearl retired to their rooms in the temple, to recuperate from their adventure, leaving Steven and Garnet, to offer the Doctor a lift to his TARDIS, in Empire City.

"So, what's next for you, Doctor?" Steven asked, curiously. "Have you got any more adventures planned?"

The Doctor stood motionlessly, staring out the window, at the clouds, whizzing past. He could almost see Ood Sigma, standing in the snow, the urgent look in his eyes. "You know... this and that..." The Doctor lied, half-heartedly.

Garnet frowned, without looking away from the ship's controls. "Doctor, you don't have to tell us anything you don't want to... but you're running out of time."

"What... what do you mean?" Steven asked, a hint of worry in his voice. "Doctor, what did she mean?"

The Doctor looked fondly at Steven, grateful for his concern, but didn't answer his question. "You know what happened in 2059... on Mars." The Doctor said, to the back of Garnet's head.

Garnet sighed. "Sapphires can see the one, possible future. I can see all the possibilities that could happen if I intervene. But there are some points, where even I can only see one outcome."

"Fixed points in time..." The Doctor explained. He looked down, to see Steven looking at him, wide-eyed, in apprehension. "There were some people, on Mars. Good people. Brilliant people. But they died... it was an important part of human history... Except I changed it... I saved them."

Steven wanted to say that that was a good thing, but he could tell from the Doctor's expression that it wasn't.

"Now I have to go and help someone make it right, except... I'm going to regenerate again." The Doctor frowned sadly.

"You seem a lot happier now, than you were the last time I saw you..." Steven said, understanding why the Doctor was hesitant to lose his current form. "But you always do the right thing, no matter what, right? I mean, you could be hiding on the other side of the universe right now, if you wanted to stay alive, but you'd never do that!"

The Doctor smirked. "Yeah... Well maybe I have put it off for long enough."

Garnet brought the Roaming Eye down on a street corner, immediately adjacent to the TARDIS. It was late evening, so there weren't many people around to stare at the unidentified craft, or the maroon woman walking out of it. The Doctor produced his key, and opened the door to his beloved ship, with a creak.

"Maybe we could help you?" Steven offered, although he had a feeling he knew what the Doctor would say. "Whatever you have to do, if we do it together, maybe we can save you?"

The Doctor smiled weakly. "There is something you can do, actually." He sighed, resignedly. "Keep protecting the earth for me, yeah?"

With tears welling in the corners of his eyes, Steven stepped forwards and hugged the Doctor's legs. Unable to return the gesture, the Doctor merely smiled and ruffled Steven's hair. He offered his free hand to Garnet, who shook it, firmly. Their farewells concluded, the Doctor entered his ship and, with a flash of the bulb, and an unearthly wheezing, vanished from Steven's life once again.

* * *

 **And we're done! That's it for my SU/Who crossovers for now. I have a couple more SU stories planned; a Pink Diamond origin story I've already started, and another crossover of nondescript nature (nudge nudge wink wink). So you know, stay tuned, or whatever, it's your life. Thanks for reading!**


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